State Medical Groups Tally Medicare Hassles.

Don't mess with Texas--or North Carolina--when it comes to Medicare hassles.

Both state medical associations ask their members about their Medicare hassles and present them to local carriers and the federal program.

"We get calls frequently from states who want to set up programs similar to ours," said Teresa B. Devine, director of the Texas Medical Association's Health Care Financing Department in Austin.

Texas began formalizing its "Hassle Factor Log Program" in 1991. TMA's Web site provides a template or "log" that physicians can fill out and choose from a number of different hassles that they are experiencing, including "denial of claim," "delay in payment," "telephone always busy," and others.

The log also provides a space for physicians to say what is causing the hassle: Medicare, Medicaid, commercial insurance, or others.

TMA reviews the data from its logs and compiles status reports. In the year 2000, the Hassle Factor Log Program reviewed and handled 5,078 hassles, a 53% increase in the number of hassles processed in 1999.

The 2000 status report also delineates hassles by specialty, region, and insurance plan.