Medical billing is a complicated process for both doctors and patients. It’s common for codes or other information to be inputted incorrectly, often due to faulty manual data entry, thus resulting in rejected or denied claims. If you’re the patient who receives an incorrect medical bill, you might not be sure how to go about it. This can be a frustrating and complicated process, so we put together a step-by-step guide to help ease the stress.
Contact Your Doctor
The first thing you should do if you receive an incorrect bill is simply call your doctor’s office or the place that you received the service. Explain your situation, why you believe the bill is incorrect, and have any relevant documentation nearby to reference if necessary.
Ask To Speak With the CFO or Head Doctor
If calling the main office doesn’t solve your problem, you’ll have to speak with higher ups. If you’re dealing with a big practice, ask to speak with the Chief Financial Officer. If you’re in touch with a smaller practice, you might have to speak with the head doctor. Either way, the threat of asking to speak with a leader at the business could have lower-level billers scrambling to rectify your issue before it gets to that point.
What Happens Next?
Every situation is different at this point. If your problem is solved, it’s still important to keep all documentation and continue to watch out for future discrepancies. If your bill isn’t changed even after speaking with a top official at the company, you’ll unfortunately have to decide if you want to report it as medical billing fraud, or walk away with the loss. Obviously, if it’s a significant amount of money, you should pursue the cash you’re owed. If it’s pennies, you might decide that the effort isn’t worth the money you’ll end up getting back.
The Best Medical Billing Software Prevents Errors
Billing by hand will almost always result in error. Switch to reliable medical billing and coding software to see the difference. Book your demo with Claimgenix today!