Here are the most common areas of overcharges and errors, with tips on what to do if you find irregularities:
- Charging for the day of discharge. Most insurance plans do not allow hospitals to charge for the day you leave the hospital.
- Number of days in hospital: Check the dates of your admission and discharge. Were you charged for the discharge day? Most hospitals will charge for admission day, but not for day of discharge.
- Charging for a private room when you had a semiprivate room, or charging for a private room when a semiprivate room was unavailable.
- Charging for medications you didn’t receive or refused, or for high-priced brands when your doctor prescribed a generic.
- Charging for the same procedure or service twice, aka “double billing.”
- Charging for tests that are grouped under a broad category like “blood work” or “miscellaneous.” Always ask for tests to be itemized.
- Charging for services that your doctor did not order or that may have been scheduled but later cancelled.
- Charging for a test twice because it was administered incorrectly the first time or the first test results were misplaced.
- Charging for personal items that are usually included in the room charge like slipper socks, toothbrushes, lotions and combs.
- Charging for physician services when the doctor sends you a separate bill for the same service.
- Charging excessive amounts due to a clerical mistake which results in the wrong code for a service or procedure.
- Charging for more operating room time than was necessary for your surgery. Check your anesthesia record. It will show when your surgery began and ended.
- Up coding: This common billing mistake occurs when a doctor switches a high cost medication or expensive service for a cheaper alternative then charging for the more expensive item or, in some cases, charging for both!. An example of this would be the doctor replaces a top dollar brand name medication for a generic alternative.
- Keystroke error: An everyday mistake in which someone just happens to hit the wrong keyboard key. An innocent enough mistake but one that can cost you a significant amount of money.