Reader Questions:
Catch Up on Incomplete Claims
Published on Tue Jun 22, 2010
Question: Our surgical practice has a few claims that have missing or incorrect information. I'm not sure what to do with these claims -- should I just put them through anyway and keep my fingers crossed?Indiana SubscriberAnswer: Trying to put through an incomplete or incorrect claim will probably result in an immediate denial, so don't waste your time doing so. Instead, put these claims on hold or suspend them, then do some homework on these claims soon. You'll be more likely to find the information you need to submit a clean claim.Claims can be held or suspended for a variety of reasons. They may have a missing diagnosis code, a code that is no longer valid, or be missing important information. Luckily, most billing software allows you to hold or suspend claims that have such errors.After you suspend the claim in question, check the patient's medical record. The proper codes may [...]