National
reports show that 60% of medical bills created have errors in India. The world
of billing problems is as vast as medicine itself. Many frequent complaints
from patient side are: receiving double billing for the same treatment, being
billed for the wrong treatment, getting a bill for unexpected costs etc.
Problem comes because of human involvement in the entire process before billing
creation. It’s generally an estimated that approximately 10-15 people are involved in generating a
single patient bill, from the receptionist who collect the personal information
from patients, doctors and nurses who treat the patient, pharmacy , lab and
housekeeping who provide added services to the patient. So from a billing
perspective it becomes very difficult to bill for 50 items in a single time.
Here
are some examples of scenarios that happen all-too-often while creating billing:
1) Medical Error #1: Billing for procedures that were not performed
An old
man received a bill for his annual physical examination. The charges included a
line for a pap smear, which even general people know is a test that is only for
women. Had he reviewed the bill right there at the time of discharge? That charge would have been
removed before the claim was ever sent in to the insurance.
No generally people have tendency not to view at the same time while it gets
created. When same bill will be produced for claim settlement and it won’t get
reimbursed then the person will blame to hospital
2)
Medical
Billing Error #3: Duplicate charges
Hospital bill that
itemized 55 of the same item at Rs.300 each. This item is something that no one
could have done to them 55 times in the period of a four-day hospital
admission. Can you make any guess? We're talking about a urinalysis process.
Not only they charge very high, but the number of laboratory tests just didn't
make any sense were done. If this patient had ever requested and had a glance
of the bill, I'm pretty sure she would have picked this up.
3) Mistake #3: Not asking for itemized statements
and then reviewing it
The best way to
avoid medical bill errors is to make sure that the charges are correct. While
no one expects you to be an expert in medical terminology but by requesting and
reviewing a detailed itemized statement following every episode of care
provided, you can easily avoid some of the general problems. Always take the
time to ask for and look at an itemized bill.
DocEngage provides complete
itemized statements at the end of episodes what you request from the hospital
at the checkout window.
DocEngage
now has advanced billing features!! It is aimed at simplifying the billing
process for doctor, concern staff and the patients. DocEngage provides benefit
for doctors and concern staff in following manners:
·
Provide complete track of billing done
for a particular patient
·
The ledger will give a complete overview
of the total billed amount and total amount paid
·
Provide complete track of the due amount
·
Settlement against advance payment can
be made.
·
Payment can be made by the patient for a
single invoice generated multiple times
·
Any time payment can be added
·
Provides
notes option to write information related to the bill
·
Electronic
tracking of payments
·
Doctor Will have a track on the revenue
generated by him
·
Through care plan he/she can have a
track of how many procedures has been completed
·
For how many procedures performed
invoice has been generated
·
Transparent
payment process
