Discussion:

In the billing process of a hospital, why are medical records a critical department?

There is no wrong or right answer to the question above. Please respond to at least two other classmates discussion.

Student 1:

Medical records are essential to the billing process of a hospital because without them the hospital will not know what to bill the patients.

Hospitals stay open when they have patients to treat and if they are not billing/coding the patients for the proper tests, treatment, or services they are using then they are losing money.

The billing department has to go back on patients medical records to see what services were provided while they were being treated at the hospital and charge the insurance companies and patients accordingly. Without the medical records department documenting what services were provided to the patients, the billing department would not know who or what to bill leading to a financial crisis.

Student 2:

Medical records are very important in the billing process of a hospital because they accurately identify the diagnostic and procedural codes when providing patient services, which is a crucial step toward capturing charges and identifying billing items.

Also, since billing has to be done based on the specific treatment given to a patient it serves a big purpose in keeping those medical records protected and accurately written down, so if the patient needs to be transferred somewhere else they have all the correct information about them.

Without medical records the hospital/physician office would not know what kind of treatment they need to bill the patient for after seeing them, which in order for the hospital to make any money at all they need to be able to bill the patient.