Question on obtaining Ship Medical Records

[smoothdancer]

On a cruise a few months back I had to be hospitalized and eventually taken off of the ship for surgery. I was in the ship's hospital a day and a half and charged about $5,000. which went on our credit card.

 

When we left the ship we were given a detailed record of every service and medication they gave me and the assoicated cost. On the bottom of this document it warned you to be careful with the document as they would not provide duplicates.

 

We had no trip insurance and put a claim in with our own insurance company. They denied the entire claim pending that I provide them with "nurses notes", "Dr's notes" and "diagnosis notes". So my question is has anyone ever had to obtain this information with any success from Princess? I understand in a hospital setting I have a right to these records but I have no idea where to start, who to ask, who to address my request to. I have some concerns because of the warning that was printed on the document I did leave the ship with.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Host CJSKIDS]

On a cruise a few months back I had to be hospitalized and eventually taken off of the ship for surgery. I was in the ship's hospital a day and a half and charged about $5,000. which went on our credit card.

 

When we left the ship we were given a detailed record of every service and medication they gave me and the assoicated cost. On the bottom of this document it warned you to be careful with the document as they would not provide duplicates.

 

We had no trip insurance and put a claim in with our own insurance company. They denied the entire claim pending that I provide them with "nurses notes", "Dr's notes" and "diagnosis notes". So my question is has anyone ever had to obtain this information with any success from Princess? I understand in a hospital setting I have a right to these records but I have no idea where to start, who to ask, who to address my request to. I have some concerns because of the warning that was printed on the document I did leave the ship with.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Start with their corporate offices in California. The number is 661-753-0000.

They should be able to get you in touch with the proper people to get a hold of the appropriate records for your insurance company.

 

Good luck. Hope all turned out okay for you.

[smoothdancer]

Thanks so much. I will give them a call in the AM

And yes, I had a full recovery, all that is left of the ordeal is fighting with the insurance co!

[jlp20]

....We had no trip insurance and put a claim in with our own insurance company. They denied the entire claim pending that I provide them with "nurses notes", "Dr's notes" and "diagnosis notes". So my question is has anyone ever had to obtain this information with any success from Princess?.......

 

First, you now know the importance of trip insurance.

 

Before you start working the phone and fax, you should contact your insurance company and get an answer to a simple question. If you do provide the records, will they consider the claim?

 

I ask this because the vast majority of insurance policies sold only cover you if you are INSIDE THE BORDERS OF THE U.S.

 

That being said, you are in luck since Princess has its headquarters in California. The records will EVENTIALLY end up at their headquarters. The problem is how often the ship boxes up the records and ships them back to the main office.

[smoothdancer]

Absolutely, never again will I travel without insurance. This is actually only a small portion of the bill. I also have a surgery bill and a weeks hospital stay in Mexico.

 

The good news is our insurance does cover foreign claims which I confirmed prior to submitted the claim. It is all out of network but to recover just a portion of the cost would still be substancial.... But thanks for the tip.

[spongerob]

When you contact Princess, ask to speak to the Fleet Medical department. You might have more luck there than with standard customer service reps who probably won't have a clue how to help you, and therefore won't even try.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Be warned though - even thought the Princess HQ is in California, the ship's registry is Bermudan and therfore the medical staff is licensed in Britian and therefore the billing for medical care may be done (I believe the medical staff is through contract, and not necessarily Princess employees) though Brittish ways and may not be covered as a domestic expense. I do knwo that Medicare will not cover for any medical care outside of the US - even on a ship.

 

Hope you are feeling better!

[BJS]

We had no trip insurance and put a claim in with our own insurance company. They denied the entire claim pending that I provide them with "nurses notes", "Dr's notes" and "diagnosis notes".

I hope you can get the required documents and get your money soon.

Frequently an insurance company, after you sign authorization, contacts those providing care to obtain that type of information.

 

We also have medical insurance that will cover us out of the country. We are first required to pay the bills and then submit the claim. The form we have does have an authorization to release any and all information to them in order to process our claim. We only have to submit what was given to us plus if for a foreign claim our travel tickets, original checks, original receipts of payment and if cash payment original bank transfer statement. They then use the authorization form to obtain other needed documentation.

 

Are you saying this is a medical insurance company and they won't do this for you?

 

 

 

.

[Mindy97]

I mean this as no disrespect to the OP.

 

We used to have an HMO, and they covered "emergency care" anywhere. We unfortunately had to test this twice, once on a cruise ship and once in Mazatlán, Mexico. Each time, after care was received I told them that I would need an itemized bill and a written diagnosis. That was the key. The one from the ship sailed right through. The one from Mexico had to have a translation, and then that was accepted as well. I wasn't totally compensated for the Mexican one, because they used a very funky exchange rate (and with the illness we didn't notice), but it was over 90%, so I didn't complain.

[jlp20]

Absolutely, never again will I travel without insurance. This is actually only a small portion of the bill. I also have a surgery bill and a weeks hospital stay in Mexico.

 

The good news is our insurance does cover foreign claims which I confirmed prior to submitted the claim. It is all out of network but to recover just a portion of the cost would still be substancial.... But thanks for the tip.

 

 

Now that I know your insurance company will cover you outside the U.S., we’ll go for the nuts and bolts of an answer.

 

As it happens, my wife is a director of a hospital medical records deptment. While Princess is not a “hospital” it is bound by the same laws, in this case California. There is several ways your insurance company, Princess and you can get information and be “legally” covered.

 

First, contact your insurance company and have them provide you with a “Authorization for Information” request, with who is getting the records. In this case, it should be the insurance company. You make out one of the “blanks” and sign it and direct it to whatever, doctor, hospital, medical center or Cruise Corporation. The way you explained it, make several blank copies so you can get records from Princess, hospital, doctors and who knows what else.

 

Hospitals and doctors need authorizations that have certain wording to protect themselves when releasing records these days. After getting the authorization form, a couple of hoops will be waiting to be jumped through. First, make sure Princess will release the records with just your signature or if it has to be notarized. They are legally in the right to ask for a fee for the coping and mailing of the records. Some places may wave this entirely, or have a side business making money by charging a dollar a page. Don’t expect anything overnight, best case will be two weeks for the info to show.

[smoothdancer]

This was great information, you are all so helpful.

 

Based on original conversation with Cigna they sent me a foreign claim form told me what I had to submit and I did submit everything they asked for. I did send itemized bills of every charge, my creditcard statement which showed the translation from Pecos to US dollars, a diagnosis from Princess, diagnosis from the surgeon and the pathology reports. All were translated in English. When I got this next round of requests and denial I felt like it was just a method to refuse the claim and no they never offered to call the hospital or ship themselves. Interesting that after I got back to the US there was a lot of medical follow up and Cigna paid for all of that, no questions asked.

 

We are lucky that a fellow my husband works with does speak spanish and will translate the request I will now send to the hosptial for these additional requests.

 

Thanks again everyone.