Oct 28
2021
Hayes’ Healthcare Audit and Revenue Integrity Analysis Finds COVID-19 Claims and Bundling Errors Driving Denials
Bundling errors continue to wreak havoc on hospital bottom lines in 2021, causing 34% of inpatient charge denials with an average value of $5,300 each. That’s according to an auditing and revenue integrity report analyzing more than $100 billion worth of denials and $2.5 billion in audited claims released today by Hayes, makers of MDaudit, the industry’s leading integrated auditing, billing compliance and revenue integrity platform for the nation’s premier healthcare organizations.
“Healthcare Auditing and Revenue Integrity: 2021 Benchmarking and Trends Report” shares the findings of Hayes’ review of professional and hospital claims audited in MDaudit Enterprise during the first 10 months of 2021. Internal auditors identified a significant number of concerns in the claims they reviewed, with approximately 33% of the audits resulting in “disagree” findings. The concerns centered primarily around disagreements between procedure codes and diagnoses.
Focusing on denial trends, bundling was the top category for both inpatient and outpatient charge denials – the latter of which had an average value of $585 for each denied claim. The top reason was that the benefit had been included in a previously adjudicated service or procedure. Professional services had a first-time denial rate of 15%, led by claim submission/billing errors and carrying an average value of $283 each, while COVID-19 claims continue to attract higher denial rates from both commercial and federal payers.
“With the pandemic driving projected losses over $100 billion this year, hospitals and healthcare organizations are under intense pressure to optimize revenue flow and reduce compliance risk,” said Peter Butler, CEO, Hayes. “Gaining control over denials by focusing on both auditing and training providers and coders to improve documentation is a logical first step – particularly given that 43% of rendering providers and 27% of hospital coders fail internal audits and auditors have ‘disagree’ findings about 33% of the time. Left unaddressed, this is a huge revenue and compliance risk for organizations.”