Electronic Medical Records Probed for Over-Billing

The Center for Public Integrity published an article titled: "Electronic Medical Records Probed for Over-Billing" The article discussed the shift from paper medical records to electronic medical records (EMRs) and concerns with doctors and hospitals billing higher fees.

Key takeaways from the article were:

• Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) may be prompting doctors and hospitals to pay higher fees to Medicare.
• Some software from digital records companies that is marketed to may actually be encouraging the use of elevated billing codes.  
• "Cloning" (cutting and pasting prior encounters for a patient) may also be a cause of problems for the size of the patient's bill.
• According to one testimony, the cloning (copy/paste) method may only be limited to the services documented that were "pertinent" to treating the patient's current medical problem.
• Cloning also may have inaccurate information regarding the patient.
• The Obama administration plans to spend $30 billion dollars in order to help doctors and hospitals 
• Overall, the IT industry agrees that EMRs can lead to higher costs, but EMRs are easier for doctors and hospitals to document all the work they do.

To view the full article, please click here: Electronic Medical Records Probed for Over-Billing

For additional billing and coding resources. please click the following link: Medical Reimbursement, Inc Resources