After Elsa Newmyer's surgery last year went terribly wrong, she was laid up in a hospital bed for months. Dozens of medical bills, some 30 pages long, began piling up. Her husband Larry, who had to manage the payments, was overwhelmed.
“The health care bureaucracy is crippling,” said Ms. Newmyer, 62, a retired teacher who lives in Washington, D.C. “There are lots of layers to get to the right person. So you end up paying bills just because you've run out of energy.”
In desperation, she turned to a patient advocacy firm, Patient Navigator, which helps coordinate care, do in-depth clinical research and find appropriate doctors. A professional there examined Ms. Newmyer's bills, checking for errors, and ultimately negotiated lower payments. The amount saved was at least $10,000, Ms. Newmyer said.
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