Compare your bills and statements

You're finally out of the hospital and recuperating at home. You should be concentrating (or totally focused) on your recovery, but then the bills start to arrive. Don't panic.

• Wait for your insurance company's explanation of benefits (EOB) or your Medicare summary notice before you respond to any hospital or physician bills.
• Determine what was covered by insurance and what your insurer claims you owe.
• Refer back to your insurance coverage to be sure that the deductible and co-payment amounts are correct.
• You should get a summary bill from the hospital, but you can request an itemized hospital or physician's bill if any charges are unclear.
• Compare the dates and charges between the bills and the insurance company's statement. If the EOB or the bills aren't clear, ask for verbal explanation in terms you can understand.
• Look for charges that are obviously wrong, including procedures or tests you know you didn't have.
• You can request your medical records to see if you received the care you are being billed for.

No matter how hard you tried to control your hospital costs, you may still be surprised by your bills. But don't assume they're always right, especially if you're paying out-of-network. "Look at the itemized statement from the hospital, it may not be easy to understand but if, for example, you see a charge for penicillin and you know you're allergic then something is wrong," says Nora Johnson, Director of Education and Compliance at Medical Billing Advocates of America and co-author of The Medical Bill Workbook.

Common errors include:

• Incorrect dates of service - make sure you're not being charged for a room on the day you were discharged from the hospital, which most plans don't allow.
• Inflated room charges including fees for incidentals like sheets and towels that should already be included in the room charge.
• Duplicate fees for tests and procedures.
• Human errors-one mistaken keystroke could result in the wrong billing code.
• Inflated operating room time-your hospital should have an exact record of when your surgery began and ended.

And if you're in-network, you should still examine your EOB for errors. Even though your insurance company may have covered an incorrect cost, no one should pay for a service they didn't receive. Also, you're likely have a lifetime cap on coverage and you don't want to chip away at that if you need it for a serious condition down the road.