Most healthcare providers are honest people with a high degree of integrity who genuinely have their patients’ best interests at heart. However, there are exceptions. If one of these individuals has managed to find their way into your practice, they could do devastating damage to your reputation.
Whether through insurance billing fraud or ordering unnecessary procedures, some seek to benefit financially to the detriment of both your practice and your patients. Recognizing this behavior and quickly putting a stop to it is critical. However, even after removing the culprit from your office, there may be long-term consequences for your patients.
Erroneous health records
If a patient has undergone unnecessary treatments or procedures, even though it may not have caused them physical harm, it could negatively impact them in other ways. For example, the information will remain a part of their medical records, possibly making it more difficult to obtain life insurance or more costly to purchase individual health insurance.
Group insurance premiums
When an employer changes health insurance providers, the broker may ask employees to submit a complete health history to determine the group premiums. The worse the company’s aggregate health history, the higher their premiums. Inaccurate health information can impact both the company and the employees by increasing health insurance costs.
The fraction of medical personnel who commit fraud is tiny, but they have the potential to do significant damage to your practice. Not only does this behavior have long-term consequences for patients, but it also drives up the overall cost of healthcare.
