Hospital bill mistakes happen. Realize that despite all the fancy computers and machinery in hospitals, when it comes down to patient billing, it still comes down to a human being usually sitting at a computer and personally entering in your hospital charges.
Despite the audits and the number of eyes that see a bill before it is mailed out to a patient, mistakes still happen and while they might make you irritated, learn how to read your bills critically so that you can catch a mistake and save money as well.
Before going over what you should be looking out for, the first thing to stress, is to remain calm if you have to straighten out a billing error. You may be dealing with a difficult person at a doctor’s office or at a hospital. However, if you start getting confrontational and accusatory, you usually end up making yourself more stressed out and the person on the other line very unwilling to help you.
With that having been said, the first thing to look out for when reviewing your bill is the billing date and your name. Hospitals obviously have to bill you based on the date of service. If you see that you were charged for something on a day that does not match your visit or the day you remember receiving the procedure or the medication, then something may be wrong.
In addition, also look at the name on the bill as well as the address or other personal information. If you have a common name (for example Mary Johnson), the odds that the hospital biller pulled up the account for another patient of the same name, is possible. Something that would be quite telling of a discrepancy is if the first and last name match up, but the middle initial is completely different. Little things like that, can make a big difference on your bill.
Another thing to look out for is to view critically the treatments and procedures you were billed for. Know what is being given to you or your family member at the hospital so that you can be assured you are billed for only those items.
In addition, know the number of units you received – this is especially true of medications. Let’s say you received 4 acetaminophen tablets, but were charged for 40, that is a keystroke error. Remember, a human is entering those numbers and for a biller, your bill is just another account number to post charges on. The stack of charges is usually large and a biller is probably running through those charges very quickly.
According to a Consumer Reports survey, 5 percent of people noted major hospital billing errors out of a total of 11,000 people surveyed. Those with $2,000 or more of out-of-pocket expenses usually were two times more likely to have a billing error.
Obviously errors do not happen to everyone. However, anytime you visit a doctor or hospital, it is a good idea to evaluate your bill to make sure it was done correctly.
