Checking Your Hospital Bill Out

If you have ever had a hospital stay then you know that immediately following that stay there will be a pile of bills in your mailbox

. Every specialist that you see, every gown you wear will have a charge associated with it. When you are ill you are at their mercy and may be hard pressed to even know what services you received while in the hospital.

Simple. You can go directly to the source. When you determine there are mistakes on your hospital statement going back to the hospital and talking to someone about is your best bet. All of the major US hospitals have their own billing department with their own billing coordinators. These individuals will gladly sit down with you and go over your bill, line by line until you fully understand every charge.

The hospital staff is not evil (although waking someone up every two hours in the middle of the night to draw blood might actually qualify); they are not here to steal your money (again, no comments from the peanut gallery) they are hard working people like you and I. Often times hospitals are overcrowded and understaffed. As a result many staff members do not have the time to double check their entries that will end up as charges on your hospital bill. Therefore it is important to keep this in mind; going into the hospital billing office with this attitude will make the entire experience more pleasant for everyone.

Don?t be afraid to question the charges on your bill that you don?t understand even if this means sitting down with a doctor and getting your questions answered. You should fully understand your charges before beginning to pay your bills. Look for things like doses of medications that were given repeatedly. Many times a medication that is only to be dispensed every 12 hours is billed for as having been dispensed every 4 hours and also look for services that were totally unrelated to the reason for your hospitalization. Also, it is important to look for charges to correct surgeon error. If a doctor makes an error then fixing it is on them not only you. So if they had to reopen you or if you had an infection as a result of a surgical procedure then you should not be charged for these issues.

When you are not receiving the answers from either the hospital or your doctor that are satisfactory you can turn to the most unlikely of places, your insurance company. Believe it or not, you and your insurance company have a lot in common. Neither one of you wants to overpay for any hospital visit; consequently if you bring overcharges on your hospital bill to their attention they may take up the cause on your behalf. Reducing the likelihood that your insurance company will have to overpay for a hospital stay may reduce the chances of your monthly premiums increasing.

by: Andrew Ferno

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