I know the calendar says spring, but in many parts of the country it feels like it is the middle of winter with all of the snow and cold! I promise it will be warmer and spring like weather will be coming soon!

During this time of year many people may opt to take care of medical issues, start physical therapy or have surgeries. After the tests or surgeries are complete, then comes all of the paperwork and invoices that is mailed to you and it can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips on staying on top of and organizing your incoming medical paperwork and invoices:

1.  When you set up your physical therapy sessions or doctors appointments, create a folder to start collecting all of your paperwork and instructions pertaining to your appointments. Label the manila folder for example: “Right leg physical therapy – April 2018” or “Medical insurance bills – April 2018”.  The important part of labeling your folders is to be as specific as possible and keep it simple. Create a manila folder just for the paperwork from your doctor and your appointments. And create a separate folder just for the incoming medical statements from your insurance company.
2. Keep track of all of your appointments with your doctor(s) and the dates that any tests that you need to have done.  For example, keep track of when you had tests done at the doctors office, blood work or dates of your physical therapy sessions. This will help you with comparing dates and charges when you get your statements from the insurance company or invoices. There is so much paperwork when it comes to medical appointments and being organized helps you to stay on top of things.
3. If you are handling all of your family’s medical statements and invoices, another suggestion is to color coordinate the manila file folders for everyone in the family. Also use binders to get organized when you have a large amount of papers that you are dealing with. For example, you can have blue color folders or binders for yourself, green for your husband, pink for your daughter etc. Office supply stores for example Office Depot and Staples have a variety of file folders and binders at the store or online for you to choose from that will work best in your situation. If a member of your family has an ongoing medical situation, using different color binders also helps to stay organized and not overwhelmed with the paperwork.  This is helpful to keep track of past and current doctor notes, tests and procedures in case you have questions to clarify a discussion or if you choose to change doctors.
4.  If you are recovering from a procedure or a surgery and you can not really comprehend the paperwork at this time, at least put anything that relates to your medical situation in a bin, basket or a folder. And keep it separate from all of the other bills, school papers from your kids and junk mail that you receive in the mail. Once you are able to work on the papers, at least it will all be in one place and you can sort it out then.

Once you organize and take control of your medical paperwork and understand it, it will be easier for you to sort and file. If you have additional questions for me about this process or need some hands on organizing work with your paperwork, please contact me and I would be happy to help you out. Thank you and I hope you all have a great spring!