Wellness

[Trailrun23]

We can probably all relate to the incompetence and frustration with medical billing. I was getting invoices for over six months after two skull surgeries in three days. I only recognized three names on any of them.  One of the biggest problems is everything is outsourced all over the country. The invoice comes from Atlanta. You are supposed to send payment to St Louis, and the payment is credited in Denver. The late notice is sent from Boston....and if it isn't accurate, they direct you back to Denver, that directs you back to St Louis, etc. It can go on for months and meanwhile, the payment has already been taken out of your bank account two days after it was received. Multiply this by the bills I got from 18 different drs, groups, offices, etc. and don't even get me started on Medicare and Insurance. 

[RetRN]

And it keeps getting worse. Trying to find anyone to assist is virtually impossible. And if you do all you get are excuses, not answers. Afterall, for most it is just a job and a paycheck. Society has changed.

[gardenman]

I'm not sure if it's incompetence or willful. Medical billing "errors" happen so frequently that I suspect it's willful. I had an issue with the people doing the billing for the University of Pennsylvania where they always ignored the insurance's negotiated discount. The bill might be $220, but my insurer would negotiate a fee of $160 and pay 80% ($128) leaving me owing $32. (The $160 negotiated fee minus the $128 paid by my insurer.) They would bill me for $92. (The $60 negotiated away by my insurer and the $32 I owed.)

I'd call and they would say, "The bill was for $220 and your insurer paid $128 so you owe us $92." Uh, no. You accepted a negotiated lower price of $160 instead of the $220. They would insist they had no way of knowing that. Yeah. Right. I'd have to fax them a copy of the EOB showing the discounted amount they'd accepted. They would then insist they never got the fax, it arrived unreadable, they got it but lost it, etc. It would take six months to get an accurate bill from them.

I suspect a lot of people just give up and pay them whatever they ask for. I didn't. I could count on this game being played with every bill from them. I suspect the firms doing the billing for the facilities pocket any extra cash they can squeeze from the consumer. I wouldn't be shocked to find organized crime behind many of the billing services for the medical industry.

[teganslaw]

I'm the one who started the thread. After leaving a message and giving them the banking information, I never heard back. It seems to be settled. 

I don't trust medical billing facilities, just from my experiences with them. Sometimes it all works out, but often, I have to go out of my way to correct their errors. 

[Mom2Dogs]

@bikerbabe   My step daughter has a similar position...work load is overwhelming I have no idea how she stays in the position, the stress is awful.