Itemized Bills Help Catch Billing Errors

Itemized Bills Help Catch Billing Errors

In billing, itemized medical charges prevent overcharging errors. It is estimated that about 5% of all medical bills contain large errors. This is huge. It means that if you have a $10,000 medical bill, on average, $500 has been billed in error. Many of these errors are the product of unitemized bills, or itemized medical bills with hard to read verbiage. Patient-friendly itemized medical billing will help ensure medical billing errors are not overlooked.

For the most part, large medical billing mistakes are not done on purpose in a fraudulent manner. Many times billers don’t catch the over billed amount. Then the claim is sent on to the insurance company who also doesn’t catch the problem. Since many insurance claims are nonadjudicated, the payments are automatically sent out without question. The only time an insurance company catches a problem is if there is a blaring error. $500 out of $10,000 is unfortunately not a blaring error.

There are several medical billing errors that would not have been caught if it were not for an itemized statement. One of the most outrageous was a charge for labor and delivery for a man. A baby girl was once charged for a circumcision as well. These types of errors happen every day, but go by unnoticed with unitemized bills.

There are also situations when medical billing is done with itemization, but it is not customer friendly. For example, a box of tissues was once charged, but referred on the itemization as “disposable mucous recovery system”. If a patient saw this on their bill they would probably not question the charge. This needs to stop.

Some companies have been switching to patient-friendly medical billing, however it is not enough. Another way to assist with submitting correct claims is by using an outside medical billing firm. They are experienced and knowledgeable with medical bills. They can do audits and computer scans before the claims are even sent out. This helps keep your practice honest and accurate. Itemized billing coupled with a medical billing firm will help eliminate all of your medical billing errors.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P