It has been reported that around $125 billion is lost every year to physicians in the United States due to billing errors. Most providers might assume they are losing money due to patients not paying off their debts or expensive malpractice suits. Nope. Billing errors within your own offices and building are causing billions of dollars in lost payments on a yearly basis. So, what can you do to improve billing practices to make sure you are correctly billing and receiving these missed payments? There are 5 common errors that can be addressed to improve your payment percentages and cut down on these losses.
- This is actually at the top of most billing error lists. Healthcare providers not coding specific enough such as the first 3 digits of a code and leaving off the more detailed last digit, or upcoding which is coding for something more severe or for a name brand as opposed to generic medication.
- Incorrect patient information. Patients information can change on a pretty regular basis. If you aren’t updating their personal information and address changes on a regular basis you bill and notifications could be missing their intended patient. Asking every time, you see a patient for current info can cut back on this common billing error.
- Unverified coverage. Just like with personal information and address changes it’s important to verify a patient’s insurance coverage and Medicare eligibility.
- Ignoring rejected or denied claims. A rejected claim could be due to a coding error which only requires a simple correction and resubmission for collection on the debt.
- It may seem crazy but if the handwriting or records collected are illegible the coding and billing are going to be wrong preventing collection of payments.
Other common issues include duplicate billing and incorrect NPI’s. Taking the time to check over billing and coding can help your practice avoid these common errors.
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