Hello folks
I am happy you are all still here and online as I could use some experience and thoughts to allow me to be able to keep monitoring my INR at home.
Healthnet Jade will not cover my INRatio test strips: neither will Medicare (or so Edgepark the company that supplied me told me). The HealthNet AZ people have this special Jade program for people with chronic heart issues, but apparently allowing people to self-test INR is out of our capabilities or something....
When I first tried to get a supply of test strips through Health Net, I had my card write the usual Rx, I was rejected and told to file a grievance. Which they would adjudicate within 2 weeks and their judgment is final.
I plan to send a thick letter packed with information- a virtual brief of info - on why home monitoring is good and helps people stay in range a higher percent of the time. Plus I will mention, I am old and have to find a ride for the 45 mile round trip to get a lab to do it and they also bruise my veins and it doesn't heal in a week , which was why I was allowed to buy a home meter the first time round.
So far I have downloaded, "Anticoagulation: Patient self-monitoring in the US; considerations for clinical practice." http://medscape.com/viewarticle/755099_print
I would like to know if anyone has any good arguments I can include and/or other scholarly papers on why home testing is less expensive -in several ways- than going to a lab. It is far less stressful not to have to borrow a ride every week, or pay for one, it costs me and the insurance company less to test this way.
As a backup- does anyone use a service to report the results of home testing? I briefly used Raytel Cardiac Services out of Massachusetts, when I got the strips from Quality Assurance, but they lost track of me in a company name change or something and I became able to order direct. Would asking for a monitoring service be the magic key if I am denied reimbursement for the strips again?
Does anyone else use HealthNet Jade, and if so, could someone explain who it is good for?
PS
12 strips with no copay cost $330. Last year, United drove my co-pay up from $15 in Feb, to $56.00 in November and would have been $66- this time- if HN would have paid. Anyone else facing this? Still, it is better than the long drive and the needle and and even higher cost , not counting the time and the gas.
I am happy you are all still here and online as I could use some experience and thoughts to allow me to be able to keep monitoring my INR at home.
Healthnet Jade will not cover my INRatio test strips: neither will Medicare (or so Edgepark the company that supplied me told me). The HealthNet AZ people have this special Jade program for people with chronic heart issues, but apparently allowing people to self-test INR is out of our capabilities or something....
When I first tried to get a supply of test strips through Health Net, I had my card write the usual Rx, I was rejected and told to file a grievance. Which they would adjudicate within 2 weeks and their judgment is final.
I plan to send a thick letter packed with information- a virtual brief of info - on why home monitoring is good and helps people stay in range a higher percent of the time. Plus I will mention, I am old and have to find a ride for the 45 mile round trip to get a lab to do it and they also bruise my veins and it doesn't heal in a week , which was why I was allowed to buy a home meter the first time round.
So far I have downloaded, "Anticoagulation: Patient self-monitoring in the US; considerations for clinical practice." http://medscape.com/viewarticle/755099_print
I would like to know if anyone has any good arguments I can include and/or other scholarly papers on why home testing is less expensive -in several ways- than going to a lab. It is far less stressful not to have to borrow a ride every week, or pay for one, it costs me and the insurance company less to test this way.
As a backup- does anyone use a service to report the results of home testing? I briefly used Raytel Cardiac Services out of Massachusetts, when I got the strips from Quality Assurance, but they lost track of me in a company name change or something and I became able to order direct. Would asking for a monitoring service be the magic key if I am denied reimbursement for the strips again?
Does anyone else use HealthNet Jade, and if so, could someone explain who it is good for?
PS
12 strips with no copay cost $330. Last year, United drove my co-pay up from $15 in Feb, to $56.00 in November and would have been $66- this time- if HN would have paid. Anyone else facing this? Still, it is better than the long drive and the needle and and even higher cost , not counting the time and the gas.
