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If a mechanic were to hand you a bill for $500.00, it is very unlikely that you would not take a look at the charges and at the services performed, to make sure you are not being charged for something that was not done. But, when most people are given a hospital bill for $5,000.00 doesn’t even look over it, they just pay it and consider it correct. As it turns out, hospitals and doctors have the worst billing system, sixty-five percent of all hospital bills have an error somewhere in the bill. Anything from charging for medicine not received to blood work. This money not only comes out of the insurance company’s pocket but also out of yours. You can save money by knowing how the system works and how to spot billing errors.
If you receive healthcare through your employer, the current trend in the insurance industry is to have the insured employee share in the cost of the insurance. According to how long you have been with the current employer, it ranges from fifty-fifty to twenty-five- seventy-five percent of the insurance bill. Under major medical plans, employees are usually responsible for a fixed dollar amount, which includes deductibles and coinsurance. The majority of insurance companies pay eighty percent while the insured pays twenty percent out of pocket. However, most patients don’t reach the out-of-pocket limit, which can easily run up to at least $5,000. So, even though your contribution to out-of-pocket is still adding up, it is best for everyone to keep hospital bills down.
There are many billing errors just for the simple reason is that so many hospitals have inefficient billing systems. The major problem is that hospitals are set up to make sure that patients are billed for services provided and not toward making sure the charges are correct.
Typographical errors are the most common, you may have had an electrocardiogram that only cost fifty dollars but because someone entered an extra zero, it now makes the charge five hundred dollars. If a patient does not know the average cost of an electrocardiogram, the error goes undetected and is usually paid.
Another example is services that the charges are never canceled. A lab technician’s charge is never canceled, so if a lab technician comes to your room to draw blood and you have already left earlier that morning, you are still charged. The reason for this is that the billing starts from the day the charges are entered in the books, and the lab technician’s charges are never canceled.
A very similar mistake is with drug prescriptions. Your doctor may order ten days of penicillin and then switch to another antibiotic after seven days, if the unused portion of penicillin is not returned the patient is still billed for it.
The are four major areas that mistakes are most likely to occur and they are respiratory therapy, pharmacy charges, lab tests and central supply items. With respiratory therapy, equipment such as oxygen tanks and breathing masks are not credited when the treatment is discontinued. Sometimes the equipment is not even removed from the room immediately. The errors that occur with pharmacy charges are that credit is not given for drugs that are returned or when unused drugs are not returned. For lab test, cancellations of these tests are not noticed. The most common occurrence with central supply items is when hospital staff or nurses may run out of something and borrow it from another patient, they may intend to give credit where it belongs, but often they forget. So the wrong person again get charged.
There are ways you can stop this deplorable billing problem, keep track of the most basic things, such as how many times your blood was drawn, how many times x-rays were taking and of what area. If you able to, jot it down. If you are unable to write have a designated family member keep a record of the services you receive. Always ask questions; ask the doctor to be specific about tests that are to be performed. If you are to have x-rays, ask what type of x-rays. If the doctor fails to answer your questions clearly then ask the nurse. There is an ever growing change, the best thing that is happening is that more doctors are willing to involve the patients more in his or her own care.
The majority of hospitals provide a summary of charges; you will need to insist on an itemized bill. This way you will be able to check room and board charges. Count the days you were in the hospital and what kind of room you had. Make sure if you had a semi-private room that you were not charged for a private room. This alone can make a difference of up to five hundred dollars per day. Check over the charges for TV and phone service, make sure you were not charged any long distance charges that were not made from your room.
When checking over the bills be just a careful with the doctors bill, an assistant, who may not be sure of what was done, makes out most of these bills.
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