Mediacal

Errors and Compliancein Coding

By Marion Jones

HCR/220

Melinda Sousa

June 1, 2012

The most common causes of errors in billing and coding are thing like typos, incorrect dates or names, and double billing. . Typing mistakes can happen when a staff member enters the patients name or address. . Incorrect dates can errors for instance if a patient has been in the hospital for 5 days but charged for 10 days. Double billing happens when a health care practice bills a patient for two procedures and only had one procedure done.

There are some ways that errors in billing and coding can be handled in different ways. First of all when patient receives the billing statement they should review it and make sure that there are no errors. And if the patient finds that it is an error then should handle this manner so they will not be billed for some that they didn’t receive. If the patient finds that they are unable to handle this situation or the hospital or insurance company is giving him or her a hard time they should the head person in charge to resolve this issue.

By not having the correct code can cause incorrect payment for insurance claims especially for private payers and Medicare or Medicaid. For private payer, Medicare, and Medicaid .Medicare claims are controlled by Medicare National Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) . They make sure that doctors and staff members following guidelines about Medicare’s payment policies and coverage. CCi helps to prevent the billing for two procedures and helps to finds if there are any areas in coding.