A recent study found that nearly 90% of hospital bills contain errors, most commonly duplicate charges, billing for cancelled tests or procedures, incorrect patient information, unbundling of charges, or billing for incorrect quantities. Common causes of these billing errors include increased complexity of medical coding standards and administrators' lack of familiarity with the standards. The study identified eight frequent billing errors that facilities can work to correct.

1. Common Medical Billing Errors
to Avoid
A recent study found that nearly 90% of the hospital bills contain some kind of
error maybe due to the increased complications from medical coding standards
and administrations’ lack of familiarity with them.
Eight most common billing errors identified in the
study that can be fixed are:
Duplicate charges
-Billing the patient twice for a
procedure.
-Billing using an individual code and
again as a part of a bundled set of
test.
-Same bill submitted for
reimbursement multiple times
when the procedure was
performed only once.
Cancelled test or procedures
-Sometimes patients are charged
for a test or procedure that was
ultimately cancelled before it was
performed.
Incorrect Patient Information
-Mistakes in spelling or policy
number misprints are common,
which can lead to a claim denial by
the health plan.
-Patient coverage may have
changed and is not aware of it.
Unbundling of charges
-Unbundling is common and occurs
when procedures are coded
separately when they should have
been listed under one procedure
code.
Incorrect Quantities
-Incorrect quantities can occur
when the patient stops taking a
particular medication after one
dose due to an adverse reaction
but is billed for multiple doses.