The Navy’s 26 hospitals worldwide transferred to Centralized Receivables Service to facilitate bill collection efforts in 2014. The decision to use CRS came after the Defense Department inspector general found a Navy hospital in Portsmouth, N.H., had 1,533 accounts more than 180 days delinquent.
Unfortunately, the transition to CRS has not gone smoothly for Navy patients in Yokosuka. IT problems have resulted in coding errors and incorrectly sending paid accounts to debt collection agencies. Delayed or incorrectly coded bills have caused some insurance companies to refuse payment altogether.
Former Yokosuka hospital employees told Stars and Stripes obsolete computer systems, persistent staff shortages and a disconnect between billing and coding departments are to blame for the failures.
Patient advocates are working to alert Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus of the issue, in hopes of finding a resolution for distressed patients.
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