The Five Parts of Healthcare Well-Advised Families Refuse to DIY

By Lindsay Loomis, Senior Vice President, Growth

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The moment usually arrives quietly.

A medical bill appears months after an appointment, with a balance that doesn’t match the explanation of benefits. A claim is marked “processed,” but not paid. A referral stalls without explanation.  

None of it is urgent. All of it requires time.

For families accustomed to clarity in other areas of life, healthcare often feels different. The system moves slowly, communicates poorly, and assumes persistence on the part of the patient. Even straightforward care generates follow-up work that stretches on long after the visit itself.

Well-advised families understand that healthcare is not something to “stay on top of” indefinitely. It’s a system that demands continuous attention, specialized knowledge, and a tolerance for friction that few families have reason to develop.

So they don’t.

Here are five parts of healthcare that families with that perspective refuse to DIY.

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1. Medical Billing

Medical billing is not a clerical task. It’s interpretive, procedural, and frequently wrong. Charges are submitted before insurance is applied. Statements arrive out of sequence. Explanation-of-benefits documents are wildly confusing. Even when balances appear reasonable, they often reflect duplicated services, incorrect coding, or misapplied benefits.

Most families assume billing errors are the exception.  

In practice, they are routine.

Resolving them requires time, persistence, and familiarity with payer rules and provider billing practices, resources few families can reasonably allocate. Left unmanaged, errors compound into unnecessary payments, prolonged disputes, or inappropriate collections activity. Well-advised families delegate billing oversight so inaccuracies are identified, corrected, and resolved without constant attention or escalation.

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2. Insurance Claims and Appeals

Insurance denials are seldom definitive. More often, they appear as partial payments, unexplained delays, or quiet misapplications of coverage. Unless someone is actively monitoring claims, these outcomes are easily accepted as final. Appeals, when required, demand clinical documentation, procedural fluency, and persistence, none of which align well with busy family schedules.

This dynamic is not accidental. Insurance systems are built around volume and attrition.

Well-advised families ensure claims are tracked by experts, discrepancies are challenged, and appeals are pursued when appropriate, so coverage functions as intended, not just as offered.

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3. Provider Selection and Care Coordination

Choosing a provider involves far more than credentials or referrals. Outcomes, accessibility, insurance alignment, communication style, and coordination across specialties all play a critical role, yet much of this information is difficult for patients to assess independently.

Once care begins, coordination becomes its own challenge. Records do not automatically follow patients. Specialists do not always communicate. Families are often left managing logistics during periods of uncertainty or stress.

Well-advised families approach provider selection and care coordination intentionally, ensuring care is cohesive, information flows correctly, and decisions are based on fit—not convenience or name recognition.

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4. Insurance Plan Optimization

Insurance selection is often treated as an annual administrative task. But it’s truly a strategic financial decision. Premiums reveal little about how a plan performs in practice. The true costs emerge through deductibles, out-of-network exposure, prescription coverage, and access constraints, factors that only become visible when care is needed.

Without a clear understanding of utilization patterns and risk exposure, families frequently overpay or select coverage misaligned with how they actually use healthcare.

Well-advised families review insurance proactively, with objective guidance, to ensure coverage supports their actual needs and lifestyles.

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5. Day-to-Day Healthcare Navigation

Healthcare requires constant navigation. Referrals, prior authorizations, scheduling, second opinions, follow-ups, and next steps don’t happen automatically. Each task is manageable in isolation. Together, they create ongoing friction that delays care and consumes time. Well-advised families delegate navigation so they remain informed and involved without being consumed by logistics.

Well-advised families do not delegate healthcare because they lack capability. They do so because they understand where personal involvement adds value, and where it does not. Healthcare is one of the few domains where time invested does not reliably produce better outcomes. Recognizing that allows families to preserve attention, reduce risk, and move through the system with greater clarity and control.

Not by doing more themselves—but by knowing when not to.

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