5 Common Billing Mistakes

Even with the simplest mistake in billing, patients get discouraged and doubt the abilities of your front office staff. There are billing errors that are left unaddressed or poorly handled. Errors in billing happen due to incorrect information that may cause delayed claim payments, unwarranted denials, and mistakes in a patient’s billing. There are five common billing mistakes that this article will introduce to you so your awareness. 

 Incorrect coverage information. Putting wrong information about a patient’s medical insurance is one of the most common errors of healthcare billing that happens all the time. It happens whether the patient forgets their medical insurance card or the benefits verification specialist does an inaccurate breakdown.  

Lack of preauthorization. Lack of preauthorization is another significant error that often occurs in medical billing. Procedures need verification before completion, especially if you are an out-of-network provider, to ensure that preauthorization is not required. 

Errors in coding. If the medical coder is inexperienced, incorrect procedure and diagnosis codes happen. It could mean the wrong procedure code or an expired one. When submitting order claimes, experienced billers should know which coding set applies to the date of service. It is necessary to have an experienced coder that cannot make errors in choosing the most exact diagnosis codes.

Upcoding. Upcoding is the practice of coding serious procedures or diagnosis codes. It is considered a fraudulent act for health care that that inexperienced medical coders accidentally do. It is better to utilize experienced and certified coders that can read notes accurately to assess the procedures. 

Incorrect patient identifier information. Incorrect patient information is a billing mistake that mostly happens during the registration process. Errors about patient information might cause delays in medical claims. It is better to check whether the claim requires a group number, the patient’s relationship to the insured is accurate, and lastly, the diagnosis code matches the procedure. 

The best idea is to trust a medical billing service like AI-Care Medical Group with experienced and professional people that can help you utilize medical bills without causing errors to avoid issues. 

Also, AI-Care Medical Group is a provider in Florida that medical services such as Urgent Care in Boca Raton, FL, for urgent medical treatment and Telemedicine in Lakeworth, FL, for online consultation. 

You may contact (561) 462-1799 or email telecare@ai-caremedicalgroupinc.com for more information.

Common-billing-mistakes

Ruth Chacon