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Here's to Your Health:  Pay close attention to those medical bills!  |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 27 2009 : 5:12:39 PM
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Many of you know I take care of my mom's affairs for her - well I recently got a doctor bill and a hospital bill that had already been sent to Medicare. Mom had been in the ER for falling out of her bed at the adult home - and had a broken arm xrayed and treated. Well, the bills, both the doc and the ER charged me for "incision and removal of foreign object". I called her caregiver and neither one of us could figure out what that was. I took my power of attorney down to the hospital - an hour away - and asked to see her records. You know what I found? A thick packet of papers describing her broken arm, their diagnosis and treatment and aftercare instructions, and in the middle, with my mom's name and case # at the top, a paper that started "This 68 year old male was admitted with a large splinter in his right palm." I know everyone makes mistakes but this is wrong a lot of different levels, starting with confidentiality. Plus, I was charged, get this, $690 by the hospital for the splinter removal and a mind blowing $1600 by the ER doc for the splinter removal - aside from taking care of the broken arm she really did have. Then the manager of the records department, when I pointed out this glaring problem to her, said "Did you want me to do a little research on that?" No apology, no explanation, nothing. She said she'd "research" it then give me a call. I asked about the physician's charge and she said I had to take care of that separately. To make things really special, it wasn't a local physician that saw her and billed her, but one of a group of ER docs, administered out of a place in the midwest, so I have to deal with them on the phone. Moral is - just make sure you check over those medical bills - you never know what you'll find!
Farmgirl Sister #98
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - Feb 27 2009 : 5:42:40 PM
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As a health information manager, I STRONGLY recommend every time you go to the doctor, get a copy of what was done. This is the medical records departments fault, as they should have checked the name, social, sex against each piece of paperwork. They probably just grabbed the stack and threw it in there. Whomever coded it just looks for things to code, not the personal information to whom it belongs. I would suggest you talk with the HIM deparment manager again and point out that it is their job to correct these problems so they do no occur again. If you came to me, I would investigate it and probably put in paperwork that you were billed wrong, so at least you might get this cleared. See, when the audit of the medical records department happens, they can look at billing and see that the wrong person was billed. It all comes back on the hospital. Did she at least seem sympathetic? Please don't judge all of us Records managers on her ill behaviour. I hope you get it sorted out.
Heather
Yee-Haw, I am a cowgirl!!!
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
Posted - Feb 27 2009 : 5:54:50 PM
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Thanks for the info Heather - she wasn't rude - she just seemed disinterested.
Farmgirl Sister #98
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ddmashayekhi
True Blue Farmgirl
4739 Posts
Dawn
Naperville
Illinois
USA
4739 Posts |
Posted - Feb 27 2009 : 8:24:22 PM
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I learned to read every bill very closely years ago. My ex-husband was in the hospital about 6 times and we had lousy insurance. I caught that the hospital would double bill over and over for the same thing. In the end, they could have overcharged us for nearly $10k, but because I caught their errors the bill was corrected.
I'm sorry to hear about your mom Sheri. I hope & pray she will recover. I'm afraid it will feel like a full time job going over the bills, but unfortunately that is the only way it will get straightened out.
Dawn in IL |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
Posted - Feb 27 2009 : 11:03:37 PM
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No - different bill - that was the ambulance bill for her to get to the ER. This is the services she received (or someone received!) while she was there. Same incident, just different bill.
Farmgirl Sister #98
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Mar 01 2009 : 7:22:57 PM
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Thank you for posting this, Sherri. We just started getting all the bills from when my hubby was in the hospital last month. I will have to get them all out and go over them now. Just to make sure. And he was in a hosp. over 350 miles from home, too.
Good luck with your mixup. You just never know how many things we are charged unknowingly for.
Kris
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. Maori proverb |
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Here's to Your Health: Pay close attention to those medical bills! |
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Pay close attention to those medical bills!
