Spreadsheet, calculator and magnifying glass Audits are particularly important for publicemployee plans, where employers have a fiduciary responsibility totaxpayers to ensure a clean plan population.(Photo:Shutterstock)

It was a happy, but not-so happy, moment for benefits advisorKalli Ortega, managing partner and vice president at CorkillBenefits, when she learned that a couple on one of her employerhealth plans had been charged for two circumcisions on the invoicefor their daughter's birth. She knew then that she was makingprogress with educating about the need for health care billauditing, but also the degree to which facility bills were totally out of hand.

As she tells the story, the couple had finally been able to havea child after repeated unsuccessful attempts. When the bill fromthe hospital arrived, they didn't just blindly pay it. They askedfor an itemized bill.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.