By the late 1980s, Providence had hired professional coders to translate doctors’ exams into medical bills. Physicians were given stock phrases to use to describe their exams and told what procedures to perform to ensure better revenue—instruction that became commonplace at many hospitals. The doctors began receiving statements each month that showed how much money their examinations brought in, relative to those of their colleagues. Relations between the administration and the doctors became increasingly testy. The physicians in Dr. McCullar’s group asked to see what the hospital had billed
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