This entry is a follow-up to my first post in this series, common misconceptions about medical institutions and hospital bills.  Before paying your medical bills, you need to know whether you are being charged fairly and appropriately for the services that you received.  This post offers advice to help you figure out if your bill contains any errors, and what to do if you find something on your bill that doesn’t seem right.

What can I do to better understand my medical bills?  How can I fix any errors that I find?

1. Call your medical provider’s billing office and ask for a copy of your itemized bill.  The bill you received in the mail is not itemized.  In other words, it doesn’t contain a very detailed (and long) list of services, medical materials, equipment, and treatments that you received.  An itemized bill should show, for instance, the cost of the tissue box from your hospital room. (Seriously, it’s common to see overpriced everyday items on medical bills.) Charges may be as low as one or two dollars for some items on the itemized bill.
2. Ask to put your bill on hold.  Asking for an itemized bill can demonstrate to the provider that you are proactively dealing with your bill.  Request that the billing office update the status of your account to “pending.”  Say that you are working on paying your medical bills but that you need more time to review the details of your bill, as well as figure out your insurance situation (if applicable), and eligibility for public programs or charity care.  (Future blog posts will deal with each of these issues individually.)
3. Check your itemized medical bill for errors or inflated charges. Medical bills commonly contain errors and excess charges. Make sure that all of the charges on your bill seem correct and that you were not billed for any services that you did not receive.  Review that your name, insurance information, type of care, length of hospital stay, and other information are all correctly marked on the bill.  Medical bills are often difficult to understand, so do not hesitate to ask the billing officer to meet with you to explain the details.
4. Ask about getting your medical records.  If you think you were charged for a service that you didn’t receive, you can ask for a copy of your medical records.  Providers can charge copying fees for medical records, so ask what it costs to order them; your primary care provider may be able to order them for free.  Compare your medical records with the itemized bill to see if there are any inconsistencies between the documented services and the charges you received.
5. Challenge/dispute incorrect billing.  If specific services were not recorded in your medical records or you find other errors in your bill, then you have excellent grounds to challenge the charges.  Ask the billing office to correct any mistakes that you found—it’s best to speak with a manager of the billing department.  If making a verbal request doesn’t work, ask about the provider’s “grievance process” for disputing mistakes on medical bills.  If they don’t have a formal process, send a letter stating your grievances to the Chief Financial Officer and Manager of Patient Accounts; also send a copy of the letter to your state Attorney General.  Make sure to keep a copy for your own records.

Have you ever found a mistake in one of your medical bills?  How did you find it and what did you do?  Please post a comment if you have a personal story!

My next entry in this series will tackle the issue of applying for public programs.