If not, you can face hefty fines and lawsuits from the federal government.
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Over time, many healthcare entities have come under fire due to allegations of overcharging the federal government.
Many physician practices have come under fire for overbilling Medicaid or Medicare, or for billing for services not rendered.
The government also will impose fines and penalties if money is not repaid, once the entity realizes that it has overbilled the government.
How can you make sure this does not happen to your practice?
- Perform regular internal audits. Pay attention to the warnings and make sure to refund any overpayments. Then, learn from mistakes.
- Train your staff properly, if you bill in-house. Make sure that staff feel comfortable in approaching physicians or management if they find a problem in the coding.
- Have an outside audit performed regularly.
- Make sure no one in your practice is misdiagnosing patients to bill a higher rate.
- Have regular training sessions regarding billing and coding for the physicians in your office.
Follow the above tips to avoid overbilling and upcoding.
Make sure your employees and the physicians in your office are diligent when billing to ensure accuracy.
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P.S. If you or your patients are interested in consumer healthcare issues, check out myhealthspin.com.
