Medical Billing Mistakes to Avoid

Medical billing is an extremely detail-oriented profession. One single, seemingly tiny mistake can hold up an insurance claim and prevent the physician - your client - from receiving his or her payment in a timely manner. Such mistakes aren’t always easy to correct, either; the lengthy process of reviewing, fixing and resubmitting the claim can take valuable time away from your business. In the end, you even risk losing the trust of your clients.

Stop errors before they start by keeping the following commonly made medical billing mistakes in mind:

1. Wrong patient ID number. Always begin by double-checking the patient information!
2. Incorrect or missing physician ID. Likewise, make sure the physician is correctly identified.
3. Date of procedure not accurately reported. Again, this is an easy mistake to make - but it’s also easy to avoid.
4. Rates not accurately reported. Verify that the patient has been charged the correct amount for the services rendered.
5. Incorrect bill total. Always check your math!
6. Wrong codes provided. (A background in medical coding may prove extremely useful here.)

By and large, the majority of mistakes made by experienced, educated medical billers are easy to prevent with just a bit more attention to detail. Keep your focus on your work and your eye out for these common mistakes, and your billing practice will keep its sterling reputation.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 1:38 am and is filed under