What Does Superbill Mean?
A superbill is a primary data source for the creation of a data claim enlisted by health care agencies, doctors’ offices, hospitals and health care providers. Superbills generally contain four mandatory fields:
- Rendering provider including name and location
- Ordering/referring/attending physician information
- Patient information that is personally identifiable such as patient name and date of birth
- Visit information including appointment date, medical procedure billing codes, diagnoses and billing codes
Superbill information is usually entirely electronic but just like protected health information (PHI), the medical data included in superbills should be secured through electronic safeguards so as to avoid malicious or other unauthorized access.
Techopedia Explains Superbill
Ample amounts of data entry go into superbills, which contain patient information of varying kinds. IT professionals must be mindful to incorporate Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPPA) standards and laws when developing superbill operating systems. For instance, HIPAA laws mandate that health care employees access PHI only on a need-to-know basis. As a result, all non-care provider employees and caregivers are required to sign HIPAA agreements upon hire. Should they breach patient confidentiality laws, fines and prison terms can ensue. Billing software programs should be designed to perform user audit trails for this reason and they should be checked often by system administrators. IT professionals must also design superbill software securely so as to guard against unauthorized user access.
