Make Pain a Thing of the Past – health insurance – Physician Partners of America

Tag Archive for: health insurance

PPOA Patient Care Champion- Shirley Serovey

Shirley Serovey: Authorization Specialist, Tampa, FL-

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care.

PPOA’s Authorization Specialist, Shirley Serovey deserves to be recognized for her hard work. Patient Care Champions don’t necessarily have to work on the front lines to make an impact. Shirley proves this by working behind the scenes helping patients get their insurance approved to meet their healthcare needs. She represents all of the values we have here at PPOA.

Shirley has been a Florida resident her entire life. She was born and raised in sunny Tampa, FL. In her early life she attended Hillsborough High School. She then went on to study at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL where she received her Bachelors in Nursing and Medical Billing and Coding.

After college Shirley returned to Tampa and began her healthcare career at the University of South Florida. She took on multiple rules as a surgery coordinator, authorization specialist and an administrative assistant. Working for the University of South Florida also included working for Tampa General and Moffitt Cancer Center. She then made her way to PPOA in December 2018.

Shirley works at PPOA’s headquarters located in Tampa, FL as an Authorization Specialist. Some of her day-to-day duties include initiating and following up on insurance authorization requests for the Ambulatory Surgery Centers, executing appeals for authorization denials, maintaining relationships with medical directors and insurance companies and overall advocating for our patients.

She has been an asset to PPOA, “Shirley is the jack of all trades and is relentless in her efforts to obtain authorizations for our patients. She goes above and beyond daily and uses her RN experience to help get approvals. She has over 20 years of experience in healthcare and is truly a tremendous asset to PPOA,” Yoany Gonzalez, Associate Director of Revenue Cycle says.

Shirley has always been fascinated with helping sick people. This is what drove her to the healthcare field. In college she chose to major in Nursing along with Medical Billing and Coding not to help sick people hands on, but to help patients get their insurance approved while having an understanding of their healthcare needs.

Shirley enjoys helping patients in a way that most people don’t immediately think about, through being their insurance advocate. “I just love to see their face light up when you give them hope that they will get better and help them understand the process of their insurance and their treatment,” Shirley says.

Shirley has two children, one daughter and one son who graced her with five grandchildren. One of her grandchildren is Autistic, which has made her a huge supporter of Autism Speaks. In her free time she enjoys quilting, stitching and crafting.

PPOA applauds Shirley for her hard work and thanks her for all that she does. She is truly a Patient Care Champion.

/by

4 Money-Saving Tips for End-of-Year Health Insurance Costs

Don’t miss a money-saving opportunity –

The clock is ticking on your health insurance costs and expenses for the year. Have you met your deductible? Have you used up your FSA or HSA? On Jan. 1, many insurance plan deductibles – the amount you’re responsible for paying before your insurance plan picks up the bill – reset to $0. You have just a few weeks left to “use it or lose it.”

If this applies to you, here are four health insurance tips to help you make the most of your healthcare dollars.

Have you met your deductible?

If you have or are close to it, schedule a visit to a primary care doctor for those tests you’ve been putting off. If your goal is to get pain-free in the new year, schedule an appointment with an interventional pain management specialist or laser spine surgeon. Physician Partners of America offers fast appointments at its pain management, laser spine and orthopedic practices.

To get a handle on health insurance costs, it’s also a good idea to refill prescriptions and schedule lab work and imaging before year’s end if insurance is likely to pick up the tab. Of course, it’s important to check your plan, as your coinsurance must also be factored in.

Still have a way to go to meet your deductible?

You should not put off seeing a doctor for serious or nagging conditions; but if you’ve only used up a fraction of your deductible, any major expenses in November and December will likely come out of your pocket. If you have chronic spine pain, here’s good news: You can schedule a second opinion with a laser spine surgeon in Texas or Florida, and have the procedure when your deductible resets in January.

Do you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA)?

Flexible Spending Accounts let you set aside tax-free money at the start of each year to pay for certain healthcare expenses. The downside? What you don’t use by Dec. 31, you lose. It’s important to get everything you need now. The list of eligible expenses is long and surprising: it includes prescriptions, imaging, and even travel expenses related to medical treatment for patients and certain caregivers. Pain patients eligible for laser spine procedures by renowned specialists Dr. James St. Louis and Dr. Phillip Kravetz may be able to get reimbursement for airfare, meals and lodging.

What if you have a Health Savings Account (HSA)?

Unlike the FSA, Health Savings Account dollars roll over from one year to the next. There is no pressure to spend it by the end of December. If you are young and in good health, some financial advisors suggest putting any leftover HSA funds in a tax-free investment like mutual funds to increase its value.

Good health and more money top the list of New Year’s resolutions. Get a start on both by using your end-of-year health insurance dollars wisely.

 

/by