Wiki Billed for wrong patient:(

[JLuz]

We have several patients with the same name...we billed the wrong one to Medicare. It was denied because the patient is actually in prison. That was the denial on the eob, which obviously raised questions when we got it. So in researching the denial found that we inadvertantly billed for the wrong patient. Has anyone run into this issue and how did you handle it? Don't want to get in trouble!!!

 

[sharynwolfe]

This is actually a pretty common problem and as long as you right the wrong as soon as you find it, you will not get into trouble. If you have the ability to put a pop up note on the patients demographics that says - "3 patients in the office with this name" so that the office is more aware, that helps the staff to pay closer attention to which patient they are working with.
Hope this helps,
Sharyn Wolfe, CPC