Physicians Need to be Aware of Billing, Coding Waste, Medicare Officials Say

Tags: abuse | billing | coding | fraud | inefficiencies | Medicare | physicians | upcoding | waste

Medicare officials are calling on physicians to be more aware of the billing and coding inefficiencies that cost the healthcare industry billions annually, according to a viewpoint in the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported by Medpage Today.

Currently, physicians receive little education on matters such as inappropriate payments, revenue cycle inefficiencies and billing fraud, according to the report. Wasteful billing makes up 30 percent of healthcare costs, and while physicians may not intentionally abuse or defraud the system, they still contribute to waste, according to the viewpoint’s authors.

Economic pressures, such as use of diagnostic testing if a physician group owns imaging equipment, was also cited as a reason for making more expensive decisions. The authors suggest developing integrity training programs for physician residencies and fellowships.

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