YRMC works to fix billing errors
Some fees incorrect due to system change
Those patients with commercial insurance who received services between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30 at Yuma Regional Medical Center Family Medicine Center and specialty clinics on Tuscany Plaza may have noticed a fee that the organization says resulted from a billing system error.
“On Oct. 1 we went live with a new billing system,” said Justin Farren, VP of Strategy and Development at YRMC. “It created a split bill for patients that essentially caused this issue that we identified in November. We held all future kinds of bills being processed, we have been contacting patients, working to reprocess all of those bills and refund patients appropriately.”
Machele Headington, Vice President Marketing & Support Services at YRMC, noted that patients are being refunded any over-payment that they made as a result of an incorrect facility fee.
“It all had to do with this new billing module,” Farren explained. “We make upgrades to our technical systems and our billing systems and so forth. Medi-
care requires what’s called a split bill — commercial payers do not. Prior to October, we did not do a split bill for our commercial patients because we essentially have these contracted rates and so forth.
“Once the new billing module went into effect it created a split bill for all patients,” he continued. “Then, once we identified that the issue was that these bills were going to these patients’ deductibles and so forth, that is when we held submitting any new claims. We figured out how many patients this impacted, how many patients have paid a bill and how many are in the process. We’ve just been in the recovery process for the last few weeks.”
Headington added that the organization has been calling patients and will be sending out letters to inform the patients of the situation. The fee was in the amount of about $205 and may have been listed as a “facility fee” she said.
For questions or more information, call YRMC Patient Financial Services at (928) 336-7030.