VHI urges customers to check bills in errors probe

HALF of patient-overcharging claims investigated by VHI Healthcare are upheld, prompting the private health insurer to beef up its special investigations unit (SIU) to clamp down on billing errors.

The health insurer estimates the errors are costing the company about €500,000 annually, double the amount VHI has recouped year on year since the SIU was set up in 2005.

About 2,500 billing statements are queried by customers each year and, of these, half are found to have an issue to answer and funds have been recovered in all of these cases.

VHI is encouraging customers to check their billing statements from hospitals and consultants for accuracy and to contact the SIU if they believe errors have been made.

Among the most common errors are:

* Mistakes in accommodation type where a patient is billed for private accommodation when they stayed in a public or semi-private ward.

* Billed for extra nights.

* Duplicate charges billed.

* Incorrect procedure claimed for or charged for services not provided, ie, operation could have been cancelled, epidural not administered etc.

VHI anticipates that if customers are proactive about billing mistakes, it could lead to a doubling of the number of cases they report each year leading to “a significant increase in potential savings for VHI Healthcare and its customers”.

VHI chief executive Jimmy Tolan said any savings made will be passed directly to the customers. “This is something we did recently when we reduced the cost of children’s premiums,” he said.

Mr Tolan said they wanted customers to be aware of the role of the SIU and to work with the VHI in reducing the fallout from billing errors so that they did not incur any unnecessary costs.

Customers with queries can contact the SIU who will then follow up the query with the relevant hospital or consultant.

* Customers who wish to query their bills are asked to contact VHI Healthcare at 1850 44 44 44 or [e-mail].