Test strips. Pump supplies. Insulin. Doctor’s visits. Blood work. As a type 1 diabetic, I have a fair amount of medical bills – at least enough to neatly paper one of the bedrooms in my apartment, maybe half of the other one. There are programs out there to help keep things straight but they cost so much …
Enter MedBillManager, a program developed by Christopher Parks and his talented team. He took a few minutes to answer my ramblings and talk about his new medical bill managing service.
Kerri.: Why experiences fueled you to start MedBillManager? What keeps you going?
Christopher Parks: On December 3, 2004 my father unexpectedly passed away due to pulmonary issues and then one short year later on December 23, 2005 my mother passed away due to colon/liver cancer (she was diagnosed as stage 4 two weeks after my father died). It was during and after their illnesses that my siblings and I were sorting through the pile of medical bills, insurance EOBs, and payments to providers and I thought that there has to be an EASIER way to deal with all of that paper! More so, my sister and I work in healthcare and EVEN we were struggling with organizing, reconciling, and determining which bills to pay. Ironically, had we not been diligent - a $20,000 bill for my dad’s ventilator services that had been denied by his Meddicare supplemental insurer because it was miscoded as a Workman’s Comp payer would have been paid by my mom. Of course, we contacted the insurer and asked them if they thought that a 74 yr old man, on a ventilator for four months would be concurrently working a part-time job thereby justifying a Workman’s Comp claim?! There were many other hiccups – double billings, over billings, coordination of benefits, etc. The point being that without some sort of system to organize all of that paper, we were simply too confused to do anything.
I found a couple of good downloadable software applications, Quicken’s Medical Expense Manager and SimoHealth ($48 and $36 respectively). These were good applications and better than using paper or a spreadsheet, but they still didn’t clearly help me to answer the guiding question that my mom always asked me, “What do I do with these three different pieces of paper that I have? A bill, an insurance statement (EOB), and my payment receipt.” There was no way that she would use those software tools unless they were super simple to use. More so, she understood going to the internet and checking email, but she just wasn’t inclined to download and install “software” and neither tool answered questions like “is there a cheaper alternative to ‘X’ service?” or “what did someone else pay for the same service in my area?”
So I vowed on my own and out of my own pocket to create something that was inexpensive, super easy-to-use, didn’t have to be installed, secure, and allowed users who have chronic conditions to anonymously compare costs and reimbursements while also getting alerts to less expensive non-acute services in their zip code. Oh yeah, and since Health Savings Accounts and tax deductions are usually important to people with ongoing medical bills, the web application needed to easily track and report those items.
However, the most important thing to me is that whatever comes out of this on
-going project is that 10% of any profit earned goes to charities that the user community will vote on each year. My parents strongly believed in giving and I want to ensure that MedBillManager helps people both directly and indirectly.
What keeps me going?
Christopher Parks: My parent’s memory and the deep desire to honestly help others avoid the struggle that people with ongoing medical bills face every day. What started as a lofty “do gooder” side-project (which nay-sayers said couldn’t be done without an enormous amount of money) has become a reality and something that helps people each and every day. I am here to tell you that we, as individuals, CAN make a difference in other people’s lives. By simply and honestly doing something – be it blogging about your experiences of living with Diabetes, or talking to your neighbor about your fight with Cancer or any other health issue – you can make a difference.
Kerri.: What kind of feedback have you received from users?
Christopher Parks: We have a growing group of users who aren’t used to getting immediate response to questions, concerns, or irks. ANY feedback we get, we take seriously because this is not some generic tool, but rather it is meant to continually improve as users suggest improvements. The tool isn’t perfect, far from it! But it is constantly improving and updated with new features, fixes, enhancements almost every other day. Several of the users asked if we could make it easier to keep track of mileage to the doctor. We added it, fully functional two weeks later. We are not only desperate for feedback, but we actually DO SOMETHING in response to that feedback!!
Though my favorite feedback are the emails like… “Yes, I would be very interested in participating as an Alpha user. Improvements in Health Care, especially those directed toward consumers, is a passion of mine. Thank you for including me in your efforts!” or “I watched my mother-in-law struggle to keep up with her disease, medicare, and all her specialists using paper. Impossible. Its gotta be made easier.” Or “Can I please get access, I've just become seriously ill with foreseeable long term treatment, so I am quite sure I could use your software, the first notices came in from my insurance carrier today, shorting many of the charges, presumably as excessive, I will need to keep track of all this for resolution. Thanks!!!!”
Kerri.: Why should a user feel confident in submitting their personal information into your service?
Christopher Parks: There are several technical reasons, such as password encryption, data encryption, secure https connections and a slew of other technological jargon. Let me be clear though, as I don’t want to appear flippant about this, we take privacy and security absolutely and positively serious! In fact, our application is as secure as any insurer, hospital, or bank web-accessible application. However, let’s also be realistic - nothing is impenetrable forever. So we are always updating our security and technology, but more importantly we are pragmatic about the information that we require about each person. The ONLY personally identifiable information about the user that we collect is your email address (which is encrypted), an alias name which should be fictitious, and your zip code. That’s it. We don’t want nor need your real name, social security number, nor birth date, address, or other such sensitive data.
Kerri.: Your team is a potluck of talented, ambitious, and compassionate people. Can you tell us a little bit about who is behind MBM?
Christopher Parks: As I mentioned before, almost EVERYONE said that I couldn’t create a web application without a lot of money and capital investment – much less do it on the weekends and evenings, but the real secret to doing something is finding talented and passionate people who also believe in the same values and vision as you do. First, I needed a developer who had the wherewithal to quickly develop the application in Ruby on Rails (a programming language) and I found him in Denmark. Why Denmark? Because even though I didn’t have a big budget to pay for development, Jakob was the only person who took the time to get to know me, understand what I was trying to accomplish, and was willing to take a chance on me and this insurmountable bootstrapped project. He’s not only an incredibly talented developer, but also a good friend. Next, I was lucky enough to stumble upon Matt in Arkansas who has done all of the design work on the project and who has consistently been a driving force of sanity, sensibility, and creativity behind the progress we’ve made thus far. I also count Matt as a friend and without him; the project would have stalled and never have seen the light of day. We’ve also had significant development support from other people like Wilkes Joiner, and Matt Beale here in Nashville. All of these people helped to turn the guidance and feedback from our pre-alpha users into reality.
The other “team member” that I wanted to acknowledge are the pre-alpha users, and our current users who sign-up and tells what’s good, what’s bad, and what is needed. People like yourself, Kerri, who spent innumerable hours playing with and testing out the application and giving honest feedback like “this is crap” and “I would use that” so that what get’s developed is something useful to people who have ongoing medical bills and health issues.
Kerri.: How can a new user find your service? Is it easy to sign up?
Christopher Parks: Anyone can sign up and immediately start using MedBillManager by going to www.medbillmanager.com . Tell anyone that you know who has ongoing medical bills, or who cares for a family member or individual with medical, dental, pharma, or vision bills to please visit our site and join.
Kerri.: And, in the usual SUM style, if given the chance to grab an aerial perspective of anywhere, what would you chose to fly over in your hot air balloon trip?
Christopher Parks: That’s the best question I’ve gotten! Hmmm, growing in the western United States, I think that I’d love the chance to balloon over the Grand Canyon. I can’t imagine anything more amazing then an aerial view of the canyon when the sun is setting!
(Note: SUM has received no compensation for consulting with MBM and has not been paid to run this interview. That's full disclosure, my friends.)
Nothing makes me grin more than the emails I have the pleasure of receiving from people who read this blog. I hear from kids in high school whose best friends are diabetic, or from people who have been living with this for days (or months or decades), and from the wonderful parents of diabetic children. These people offer me a glimpse into what their life with diabetes is like and their perspectives are beyond inspiring. 
The microphone drops down and Mills Lane plucks it out of the sky. 
t it’s still not known whether or not she’s type 1 or type 2.
After reading everyone’s comments and assessing the situation (taking into account that it was also snowing for the first time this winter and I was going to be faced with the 
Cracked and mangled, these little hands are.
It took me a while to find a primary care physician out here.