The Cost of Medical Billing Error: 5 Big Mistakes and Their Impact on Healthcare

Medical Billing

In the healthcare sphere, a small, singular mistake can cost you precious time and money. Medical practices lose trust and revenue, while patients suffer due to delayed medical care. According to a 2025 statistics report, billing errors cost healthcare providers in the US around $125 billion every year. Resolving medical billing issues often requires an average wait time of 20 hours. Patients may even need to pay out of their pockets for denied claims and not to mention, added correction costs as well.

With constant revenue losses, healthcare prices also rise. In the past year, medical costs reported to have increased by 8-9%, and experts anticipate that it will keep rising further. All these are turning healthcare less affordable and inaccessible for many. By reducing the chances of any medical billing errors, healthcare practices can avoid such issues.

Below, you can go through five of the biggest mistakes in medical billing and their influence on healthcare service.

1. Incorrect Patient Information

Incorrect or incomplete filing of patient and insurance information is the most reported issue during billing. In fact, it accounts for approximately 62% of all medical billing errors. Insurance providers may reject claims for even minor mistakes like a misspelled word or interchanged number. Denied claims can be resubmitted after correcting, but needs more time, money and effort. It may not seem like much at first, but after multiple and repeated errors, it begins to snowball into massive revenue leaks.

2. Missed Claim Deadlines

Insurance companies set strict deadlines for claims processing, which means submissions must happen beforehand. Failing to meet the deadline can result in missing the reimbursement permanently. The fact that denied claims can take nearly a month for resubmission and processing makes it even worse. Besides, filing for insurance claims is a tedious job to begin with.

3. Duplicate Bills and Claims

Another major medical billing issue is the duplication of bills and claims, often due to multiple people working on the same account. It may also happen if denied claims are resubmitted too hastily. Duplicate bills and claims cause unnecessary payer frustration and get flagged easily as malpractice.

4. Not Tracking Denials

Most denied claims are actually recoverable if appealed within a certain time frame. Many healthcare practices don’t track denials carefully, treating it as final. Over 60% of denied claims never get resubmitted, resulting in significant revenue losses. Some denial corrections happen too late, barely in time for delayed payments, making it harder to analyze cashflow patterns.

5. Failed Verification for Eligibility

Overlooking the eligibility check is unfortunately fairly common and can go unnoticed until much later. Which is why cross-checking patient data is important before logging it into the system. Insurance coverage and terms can change without many realizing, and therefore, should undergo early verification.

How to Prevent These Medical Billing Mistakes?

We’ve discussed some billing errors and why they may occur. Now let’s dive into what you could do to avoid it:

  • Verifying insurance terms and cross-checking patient information to reduce incorrect documentation.
  • Using automation tools like medical billing software with EMR and LIS integrations to detect discrepancies before submission.
  • Training staff to process claims, follow up on denials and utilize automation tools.
  • Updating patient records with the latest reported changes in personal and insurance details.
  • Submitting claims within a tight schedule. Billing software can help track deadlines and alert ahead of time.
  • Centralizing the billing system and designating checkpoints.
  • Establishing a dedicated denial management system with automated tracking and reviewing.
  • Appealing for claim denials that can still be resubmitted.
  • Replacing manual data entry with AI-automated billing for more efficiency and less human error.

All these medical billing mistakes may seem simple and not very significant at first glance. But they indicate the gaps in the workflow and can amount to massive losses if they remain unchecked. Medical billing software like Easy Billing Pro ensures proper systems and strict monitoring, so you don’t have to worry about billing errors or filing claims. You can try out a demo now – no obligation to purchase.

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Marla Crowley

Easy Billing, Inc. was founded in 1994 by Marla Crowley, who, after ten years of billing experience, realized the need for a medical billing system that was easy to learn, efficient to use, and affordable.

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