Medical Billing Blunders

I was doing some research for today's topic when I came across some embarrassing reading. It seems that medical billers are getting a bad name in the media lately. Errors in billing result in patients getting ridiculous bills in the mail that they can't pay. Even more frightening is the possibility that patients overpaid for their bill without even realizing it. It's amazing to me that hospital billers are making these careless mistakes. I understand we are human but there should be a system in place that checks other people's work before a bill is sent out in the mail for the patient to pay. Times are tough right now and every penny counts.

If you suspect you've been overcharged on your bill don't fret. There are people who can help you. The link below features a video about one woman who hired a medical billing advocacy group.


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Helpful Links

The internet is a great place to find information for medical occupations. Here are just a few of the resources I use.


DIAGNOSIS CODES (ICD-9)

FLASH CODE
Flash code is an excellent source for free ICD-9 coding. You get unlimited access to current ICD-9 codes and you can even search by keywords to find the code you need.

ICD9.CHRISENDRES
Similar to Flash Code, this site is great for finding diagnosis codes through search.

ICD9DATA
This site is the simplest. It's a search engine for diagnosis codes.

WIKIPEDIA
If you use this site to find information about medical conditions, it also gives you the icd-9 code. I recommend you look up the code you find against Flash Code because sometimes the code is missing a fifth digit or it's not the code you're looking for.


PROCEDURE CODES (CPT)

These are the hardest codes to find because they are copyrighted by the Americian Medical Association. I've come across a few sites that might help though.

AMABOOKSTORE
What's nice about this site is that it also provides the amount that Medicare will pay.

GOOGLE
Believe it or not, I use google all the time to find CPT codes. You can find a lot of pdf files through this search engine that may be exactly what you were looking for.


FORUMS

Forums can be a life saver when you need to ask questions and find answers to questions. It's also a nice place to learn new things and help other people.

BC ADVANTAGE

MEDICAL MINGLE

MEDICAL BILLER'S FORUM


MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS

Sometimes I come across an abbreviation I don't recognize. That's when I call upon these websites to help me figure out the mystery.

MEDILEXICON

GLOBALRPH


Thanks for looking and I hope these sites help. If you have any other suggestions for helpful websites just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to check it out and spread the word.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Jenn. I'm interested in medical terminology and medical billing and coding. This blog will reflect that. My goal is to help other billers and coders with the information that I post here. Thanks for looking!