Protecting Your High-Net-Worth Clients From Medical Overbilling

Medical overbilling is one of the most common types of healthcare fraud. Your wealthy clients—and their top insurance plans—are particularly high-profile targets. Here’s what your wealth management or accounting firm can do to help protect them.

On the outside, medical coding is a remarkable thing; it translates countless thousands of diagnoses, procedures, and even equipment into a universal language that any insurance company can decipher. But this universal language is complicated, truly mastered by only a few, and thus can be easily manipulated to bill insurance companies and providers for more than what they rightfully owe. 

Your high-net-worth clients, many of whom have comprehensive insurance plans, are often disproportionately targeted for overbilling.

More insidious overbilling can occur when a provider uses special equipment, drugs, and treatments—which, coincidentally, are often expensive—and fail to warn their patients about the price tags. They may also “unbundle” bills and submit one claim as multiple codes.

“Insurance codes are highly complex and often change…unless you receive considerable training, you’re highly unlikely to see anything wrong when you look at your medical bills.”

Scott Speranza, CEO of inAssist

If an insurance company refuses to pay out, the responsibility for meeting these bills falls to your client. But the financial impact is only the start; overbilling can lead to your clients hitting their coverage maximums. 

Overbilling also causes permanent problems with health records, particularly if your clients are being tested and treated for illnesses they don’t have. A recorded misdiagnosis and subsequent treatment can follow them for years, endangering their health if and when they do need medical care.

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Overcharging is Shockingly Common – How Can You Protect Your Clients?

The sheer number of codes available—and the layperson’s lack of ability to read them—make it simple for even trusted healthcare providers to overbill a patient. One recent study indicated that 80% of hospital bills have errors; another showed that bills over $10,000 routinely have $1,300 worth of errors. 

How many thousands of dollars could this cost your clients?

One recent study indicated that 80% of hospital bills have errors.

There is a way to stop this: overbilling is best combated by auditing each bill and presenting a challenge if errors are found. Your wealth management or accounting firm already tends to your clients’ wealth and handles many or all of their financial matters. By taking over the managing of their medical bills and auditing them for problems, you offer an increasingly valuable service that will improve customer stickiness and give you a competitive edge. 

You don’t even need to train your existing staff to review medical bills. Instead, partner with a dedicated expert in the healthcare protection field.

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Medical Overbilling Specialists Bring Value To Your Wealth Management Or Accounting Firm

“When it comes to medical overbilling, you definitely want a specialist involved. In our current system, the only way to catch overbilling and other fraud in its early stages is to carefully monitor all insurance transactions. Your partner in this will audit each bill and explanation of benefits received. They catch problems before they can spiral into thousands of dollars and impact health records.” 

Scott Speranza, CEO of inAssist

This type of relationship lets you connect your clients with a company that has years of experience in the healthcare field. They can correctly read medical bills, and will dispute overbilling and incorrect charges on your clients’ behalf, communicating with insurers and healthcare providers as necessary. 

This careful observation, when paired with action, can save thousands (and in some cases millions) of dollars over time. It will also protect the integrity of your clients’ health records, and thus their health itself.

Medical Overbilling Specialists Bring Value To Your Wealth Management Or Accounting Firm

As medAs medical overbilling and other types of fraud continue to increase, your clients and potential clients will look to their wealth management or accounting firms to protect them. You already know that you need to keep innovating if you want to bring value to your clients; by teaming up with a medical protection firm, you’re acknowledging how critical the protection of medical data is, and by partnering with a specialist, you’re indicating that you take it very seriously.

“Many firms make the mistake of trying to bring overbilling protection in-house,” Speranza says. “Their current employees are already busy, but suddenly they’re being thrust into an industry they don’t know anything about. Customer service suffers across the board, and usually, those companies either don’t last long, or they quickly realize it’s not a service they can offer.”

Teaming up with a specialist allows your wealth management or accounting firm to keep doing its own excellent work while leaving your clients in the hands of experts. 

In the last 10 years alone, InAssist has saved customers $130 million in medical fraud and overcharging expenses. They’re also accustomed to working with high-value clients, allowing them to operate as a separate arm of your firm. Your clients will receive the same excellent service they’re used to, paired with the expertise they need and deserve. 

Medical overbilling is a serious problem, and it’s poised to worsen significantly. Make sure your wealthy clients are prepared for the future by partnering with the right protector.

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