With the increasing complexity of modern medicine, the complexity of billing procedures has also increased. Given the complexity of medical billing, it‘s not surprising that billing errors have occurred with increasing relative frequency as well. Indeed, the geometric proliferation of errors in the majority of medical bills has been documented in the public media as well as in the professional literature.

The extent of the problem is illustrated by the facts gleaned from various media sources:

• More than 9 out of 10 of Medical and Hospital  bills contain errors and overcharges.
• Medical bills are responsible for more than half of personal Bankruptcy Filings.
• Abusive medical billing errors often go undetected and unchallenged, resulting in higher health care costs for everyone.
• Five percent of the 11,000 people recently surveyed by Consumer Reports said they discovered major mistakes after examining their hospital bills.
• The cost of health care has been increasing faster than the rate of inflation for years.  By 2015, the government projects that one in every five dollars spent in the U.S. will go towards medical expenses.

Examples of the problems are illustrated by the the following links to recent articles published on the internet:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500803_162-4747904-500803.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7351-2004Jun26.html

The errors range from inflated charges and mistakes, double-billing, multiple bills, typographical errors, miscoding, problems with coding compliance and improper coding to blatant over-charging. In many cases the errors are due to incorrect interpretation of insurance policies and contracts relating to co-pays, deductibles, and lifetime maximums. Economic and other factors often result in over-work of staff and shortage of staff. It has been suggested that the true extent of the problems is undetermined and that he majority of the errors go undetected.

In response to the issues above a new industry has sprung up in recent years to remedy the problems. This movement is probably best epitomized by so-called “Medical Billing Advocacy” companies. Probably the most well known organization with over 80 affiliate members is Medical Billing Advocates of America. For information on this organization go to its web-site at http://www.m-c-c-a.com .