In the last month, I've seen two how-not-to-get-screwed-by-hospital-bills articles.

This one from a Florida Newspaper is written towards seniors who have a hard time deciphering their hospital bill. They quote a startling stat (anyone know where this is from?): hospital billing errors result in patients overpaying by $1,300 on average. Aside from the typical talk about duplicate billing and length of stay, if all else fails - they recommend hiring a billing advocate that charge $30-$150/hour or a commission on the savings.

I saw a very similar article in at biz yahoo on the 8 most common hospital billing errors.

While many hospitals are still in the stone age on making their bills patient-friendly, some hospitals are taking the lead with on-line bill pay and easier-to-understand bills. Read this article from hfm and if you haven't already, visit HFMA's Patient Friendly Billing Project for resources, tools, and insights.