Shannon Buggs at the Houston Chronicle has written a great piece “Close Look at Hospital Bills Saves Money” on taking a closer look at your hospital bills for errors. Though there have been numerous pieces on this topic, this one in particular (find it here) has some great tips included at the end. I have her “common errors to look for on your bills” below:
Wrong names: If you or your insurance company’s name is misspelled, there is a chance the hospital did not correctly calculate the charges based on your actual coverage plan.
Clerical errors: The two pills you took while in the hospital are input accidentally as 222 pills. Those typing mistakes are simple to correct and costly to let stand.
Extra dates: Your insurance company may not pay room-and-board fees for discharge days, but your bill may include a charge for that date. Also make sure you are not charged for a hospital stay for the same day you visited the emergency room if your treatment resulted in a post-midnight hospital admittance.
Out-of-network charges: Follow up with your insurance company to make sure the hospital contacted your insurer to get all necessary approvals before doing procedures.
Brand-name substitutes: Compare the doctor’s orders to the hospital bill. If the physician ordered a generic medicine commonly stocked in hospital pharmacies, but the hospital substituted a more expensive brand-name drug, you should not have to pay the higher cost.