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Big bills from NCCH incorrect: Malfunction in new IT system causes a $49 million bill
By Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona Range News
Peta-Anne Tenney received her bill from the hospital last week, opened it up and "I just laughed," she said.
"I said to Todd (her husband), 'look at this - this is a doozy!'"
"I knew I didn't owe anything," she told the Range News.
It said: Amount due: $100,106.38
If you received an excessively high billing statement from Northern Cochise Community Hospital last week, you aren't alone.
Five-hundred and eighty-seven inaccurate statements went out in the mail.
"The highest statement is $49 million," said Kim Aguirre, the hospital's patient financial service director. "I can't wait to hear from that person."
Aguirre said the malfunction in the hospital's new information technology system software occurred on the July 2, 2007 statement for those patients with last names beginning with the letters L through Z.
"We send HMS (Healthcare Management Systems) a file and they put it in their software. They process the claim and mail it from Nashville" Aguirre said. We've been doing this twice a month since April 1 without a problem, until now."
The software added on the amount for the previous statement it printed each time it printed a new one, Aguirre explained. For example, the first person's bill was $25; the second person's was $50 and it charged them $75, and so on."
But, she added, HMS has had this same problem prior to this incident elsewhere.
"They are supposed to look at the statements (for errors), but they told us they had numerous hospitals to process that day and they didn't look," she said.
Aguirre spoke with Chief Executive Officer Chris Cronberg and they set up a safeguard "so we can do a review before they process (the statements) so this won't happen again."
Tenney called her friend Ellen Clark at the hospital and told her about the billing problem.
Clark, NCCH director of community relations, already knew about the problem.
She said, "HMS will be here this week to work it out and we will get a rebate for the incorrect statements. But," Clark joked," if enough people pay them, we'll keep the nursing home open longer!"
Aguirre said Monday the new corrected statements should be arriving within 10 working days.
"I said to Todd (her husband), 'look at this - this is a doozy!'"
"I knew I didn't owe anything," she told the Range News.
It said: Amount due: $100,106.38
If you received an excessively high billing statement from Northern Cochise Community Hospital last week, you aren't alone.
Five-hundred and eighty-seven inaccurate statements went out in the mail.
"The highest statement is $49 million," said Kim Aguirre, the hospital's patient financial service director. "I can't wait to hear from that person."
Aguirre said the malfunction in the hospital's new information technology system software occurred on the July 2, 2007 statement for those patients with last names beginning with the letters L through Z.
"We send HMS (Healthcare Management Systems) a file and they put it in their software. They process the claim and mail it from Nashville" Aguirre said. We've been doing this twice a month since April 1 without a problem, until now."
The software added on the amount for the previous statement it printed each time it printed a new one, Aguirre explained. For example, the first person's bill was $25; the second person's was $50 and it charged them $75, and so on."
But, she added, HMS has had this same problem prior to this incident elsewhere.
"They are supposed to look at the statements (for errors), but they told us they had numerous hospitals to process that day and they didn't look," she said.
Aguirre spoke with Chief Executive Officer Chris Cronberg and they set up a safeguard "so we can do a review before they process (the statements) so this won't happen again."
Tenney called her friend Ellen Clark at the hospital and told her about the billing problem.
Clark, NCCH director of community relations, already knew about the problem.
She said, "HMS will be here this week to work it out and we will get a rebate for the incorrect statements. But," Clark joked," if enough people pay them, we'll keep the nursing home open longer!"
Aguirre said Monday the new corrected statements should be arriving within 10 working days.
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