AI Could Increase Healthcare Costs: 4 Ways Patients Can Avoid Extra Fees
For all of the benefits artificial intelligence (AI) may bring to healthcare, the technology could also be leading to higher medical bills.
Research from the Blue Cross Blue Association and Blue Health Intelligence suggested the growing use of AI in hospital billing is leading to billing errors. In fact, researchers think that about $663 million in inpatient spending and probably more than $1.67 billion in outpatient spending may be related to more aggressive, AI-backed coding practices across the country.
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If you want to avoid extra charges, particularly in this era of AI-assisted medical billing, read on for some expert-backed ideas.
1. Stay in Your Network
Make sure your provider is in-network, because when they are, they agree to a lower in-network charge.
If possible, it’ll likely help lower your bills to see providers who are within your insurance's network. There may be other advantages beyond price.
2. Talk to Your Healthcare Provider
“Make sure you receive a good-faith estimate,” said Melanie Musson, an insurance expert with Clearsurance. “Your final bill should reflect that estimate. If it’s way off, you can dispute the higher charges.”
In addition, you can bring up with your provider during your appointment what codes they’ll bill. You can then make sure an AI-empowered system didn’t bill you for something more expensive.
3. Ask for an Itemized Bill
Your main weapon against a surcharge is always the itemized bill, not the summary statement.
“I tell clients to request the fully itemized version and compare every line against what they remember happening during the visit,” said Cody Schuiteboer, president and CEO of Best Interest Financial. “If a diagnosis or complication shows up on the bill that was never discussed or treated, that's a documentation-driven charge worth disputing before you pay it.”
To put it another way, Ali Zane, personal finance expert and CEO of iMAX Credit, said to treat each medical bill as a document to be audited and not a number to be paid.
“If a diagnosis or procedure appears that was never discussed, that's an AI-driven documentation error and it's disputable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act before it ever gets the chance to tank your score,” Zane said. “Waiting until it's already in collections means fighting from a much weaker position.”
4. Dispute in Writing
“Treat a disputed medical bill the way you'd treat a disputed mortgage fee — in writing and before it goes to collections,” Schuiteboer said. “A phone call rarely creates a paper trail. A written appeal to both the provider's billing department and your insurer does, and it protects your credit if the dispute takes a few billing cycles to resolve.”
The Bottom Line
The issue of medical debt and bills being higher than expected may be another good reason to have emergency money set aside.
“From a household-budget standpoint, this is exactly why I push clients to keep a real emergency fund separate from their mortgage reserves,” Schuiteboer said. “A medical bill that arrives 30% to 40% higher than expected shouldn't be the thing that puts a mortgage payment at risk. I generally recommend three to six months of essential expenses set aside specifically for this kind of shock, reviewed annually as costs rise.”
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or tax advice. It was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy; however, AI-generated content may be inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated. You should independently verify important information through reliable sources before making any decisions based on this content.
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