Comments on: Avoid Costly Medical Bill Errors & Mistakes

By: Mitesh Puri

Mitesh Puri — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:15:08 +0000

Just to mention, even if you have health insurance too, you might have to encounter a bitter experience. For instance, when I was operated for a severe stomach infection, the doctor inflated the bill when he came to know that I have a cashless health insurance cover.

By: Tawny

Tawny — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:08:24 +0000

Mitch is right, you have to call the business office and say you want to speak to someone who generated the bill.

Also, it’s easier to figure out your bill if you ask for the itemized version. The one they first send you is only general charges by department. With the itemized bill you can more easily see if they charged for, say an IV, when you weren’t on one.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:12:55 +0000

I keep seeing the same misinformation over and over, so I’ll address it once again. Hospital billing departments are NOT responsible for any charges on a bill. They don’t put charges on bills; they don’t even code. They just send out bills, then try to collect on them.

Charges are captured by the departments where services were provided. Diagnoses are coded by medical records. Procedures are usually coded ahead of time and are listed in something called a charge master. Surgery procedures are coded by medical records as well.

So, if anyone has a gripe about a medical service, it behooves them to contact the department where the charge was generated instead of the billing department, because those folks have the least information available to help you with your bill if you believe the charge is the issue.

By: vicki

vicki — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:20:42 +0000

Do I have to pay a hospital bill if they took two years to send it to us? They also want to tack on $1500 for the nontimely payment! No kidding! Help!

By: Darkwingdave

Darkwingdave — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:24:53 +0000

Nothing like bringing home baby Jenny and getting a bill for her circumcision..

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:42:40 +0000

And it boggles my mind to hear Americans justifying the existing health care system… Hmm, Americans pay more $ for less health care than Canadians and it’s a good thing? Oh yeah I forgot – it’s a good thing if you’re working for an HMO or something like that. That’s billions in overhead.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:01:50 +0000

There is a two-year “timely filing” limitation with all insurance companies. It means that if they do not receive the itemized charges from the medical provider within two years they are no longer required to process or reimburse the claim.

In my experience I would have to agree with the 80% error statistic. When my mother was in the hospital a few years ago, my wife and I helped sort the mountain of medical bills for my father.

His employer made errors by changing plans in the middle of the year and reset their annual deductibles. Many claims were sent to the wrong insurance even though the latest insurance card was presented. The insurance paid in-network claims out of network. Medical providers attempted to bill for their write-off amounts. We even had the hospital force my father to pay for the deductible up front. Of course the hospital charges did not get processed first so there was no deductible on their claims.

We estimated that we saved my father over $10,000 in incorrect processed claims and inappropriate charges from medical providers.

Most people do not understand how all of this works and just make the payment requested by the medical providers bill. At minimum you must compare the bill to the Explanation of Benefits from the insurance company. First that will ensure the insurance has received and processed the bill. Second it will show how much the provider can charge you!

The number one error that I see is providers attempting to bill for the entire original amount without deducting their contracted write off amount!

By: rdzins

rdzins — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:56:08 +0000

I call this FRAUD, charging some one for something they never received. Considering 80% of the bills have errors and it is almost always tweaked to there favor. When i had my son I was charged for some medications, not really sure what they could have been because i took nothing, when I called the billing department they said “oh, we will take that off”. 600 dollars worth, what a rip off, and we wonder why are health care costs so much! The sad part is when you do have medications or procedures they make it so difficult to read and decipher how would you know if you did receive the medications or not?

By: Cap

Cap — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:20:04 +0000

hmm good question, I’m not entirely sure. obviously disputing a mistake as early as possible (before you pay) will make things a lot easier than disputing a bill you’ve already paid and then having to seek a refund on the mistake. if someone knows the answer to jim’s question, please feel free to chime in.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:48:10 +0000

Is there a statue of limitations-type rule for discovering medical bill errors?