4 in 5 Medical Bills Contain Errors: Here's What You Can Do

Four in five U.S. medical bills contain at least minor mistakes — costing the nation $68 billion annually in unnecessary healthcare spending by doctors and patients alike. That’s the key finding of a new analysis by MHS (Medliminal Healthcare Solutions), an organization that helps patients find and fix medical billing errors.

MHS CEO Jim Napoli says such mistakes have become the rule and not the exception for American consumers, for a variety of reasons. “For years we had found that approximately eight in 10 hospital bills we receive contain numerous overcharges,” Napoli says, “but now that figure is closer to nine in 10.”

What’s behind most errors: Healthcare industry standards are changing and physicians, and their office staffers, often lack necessary training in new medical coding. That means many don’t classify a patient's diagnosis into medical numeric codes that are required for doctor’s offices to seek insurance of government reimbursement for services.

In addition, some healthcare providers inflate costs for products and services, or engage in what’s called “cost shifting” — charging paying or insured Americans more to balance out coverage for uninsured or poor patients who can’t pay for the services they receive David Womack, president and CEO of the Practice Management Institute (PMI), says the risks are not just financial. In fact, medical billing errors can result in poor care, injury, or even the death of a patient.

“The tide is changing and proper coding certification will become the healthcare standard within 5 years,” says Womack, arguing that hiring certified office staff to ensure a doctor’s practice operates competently and ethically is “no longer a suggestion, but a requirement.”

Womack — whose organization helps provide training to medical staff, physicians, and hospital systems — says professional certification in medical coding, third-party billing, office management, and compliance, can help turn the tide on rising medical billing errors. It can also help physicians focus more attention on patient care, and less on book-keeping issues.

Read more at NewsMax