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ADVANCE Perspective: HIM

Error Woes Make the Headlines

Published November 1, 2007 3:38 PM by Lynn Jusinski
Imagine my surprise when I popped open MSNBC.com the other day and found that the top story dealt with medical billing. That doesn't happen everyday. The news, however, was not very good.

The article follows a couple, Ron and Marilyn Hess, through their struggles with medical billing errors. The couple resolved their plight, with the help of a medical billing advocate. The reporter then went on to interview the advocate, who estimated that she sees errors in about "eight out of every 10" hospital bills that she's hired to look into. Coders may be responsible for some of the errors, the article points out.

The article wraps up with a (somewhat) happy ending. After an 18 month battle, the Hess's finally got their bill thrown out. The article also links to a discussion board where readers were invited to share their own personal stories of medical billing errors. During the discussion, a few coders and billers piped up to defend themselves, although most comments are individual cases that readers chose to reveal to cyberspace.

Did coders get a bad rap? I know from just the little coverage I've done on the coding profession in my 7 months here at ADVANCE that many coders (at least our readers) are devoted to the profession, for the most part, and dedicated to constantly learning and improving to make sure that instances like those mentioned in the article don't occur. What is your facility doing to make sure that medical billing errors remain to a minimum? How do you feel about the top story article, and do you think that the entire billing process was fairly represented?

posted by Lynn Jusinski

2 comments
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My first thought was how annoying it is that all you ever see about us coders in the general news is bad stuff.  But then I read Kevin's comment and agree, it is true, any publicity is good publicity, but I think articles like this make it harder for coders who are already doing their best to keep doing our jobs.  There will be more patients thinking they can complain and get things overturned.  And yes, I have also been in the victim's shoes but it's all in how you handle it and stories like this will make patients think it's their right in a way to have their bill reflect what they think it should no matter what the guidelines are that we as coders are trying to follow.  The way our profession is being advertised and pushed on people as easy and then those people who end up hired after going through some fly by night courses are extremely scary and more does need to be done to help keep coders in check.  It all begins at home though...  I could go on forever but should finish here :-)
Denae Merrill, Physician Coder - CPC-E/M November 2, 2007 4:03 PM
Saginaw MI

I seriously doubt we could do justice to the revenue cycle process as a whole in one, scant, top story.  Not to be completely negative, any publicity is good publicity; it's the representation and reflection on our niche that concerns me.  This, like many "newsworthy" topics, make headlines as a community cause cloked in sensationalism.  Ratings are "it."  However, this is a serious wakeup call to our industry leaders.  As both a practitioner and (oddly enough) victim of some of these errors, I can vouch there is a need to address the facts.  Coders can't and shouldn't take all the blame.  We have facilities that institute coding policies--or choose not to--there are educational opportunities, but some of us don't use them.  Then, there are the school that churn out "coders" for as little as $1,200 and a few months time, not to mention employers that hire these folks and hope they have a clue.  It's time for us to really sit down and have an honest look at what's taking place around us and identify the root causes.
Kevin Shields, HIM - CCS, CPC, CCS-P, CPC-P, RCC, ACP November 1, 2007 4:16 PM
Louisville KY

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