A Command Performant(s): RAC Audits on the Rise
On October 30, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Calendar Year 2016 Outpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule (2016 OPPS Final Rule). In the 2016 OPPS Final Rule, CMS finalizes...more
On October 15, 2015, CMS released its annual recovery auditing report to Congress. CMS’s Recovery Auditor (RAC) program identifies and corrects improper payments through a combination of prepayment and post-payment reviews,...more
Last week, CMS released its report to Congress regarding the results of the FY 2014 Medicare Recovery Audit Program (the “Report”). Of note, the Report notes that RACs identified and corrected more than 1 million claims for...more
Quality Improvement Organization Releases Guidance on Short-Stay Reviews – As previously reported, in July 2015, CMS announced that Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) would begin conducting reviews of certain inpatient ...more
On August 13, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued instructions to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and Qualified Independent Contractors (QICs) regarding the scope of review for...more
In August 27, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the long-awaited and much-anticipated proposed 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B Program) Omnibus Guidance (Proposed Guidance). The Proposed...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced, on August 12, 2015, that it has extended the enforcement delay of the controversial two-midnight rule governing short hospital stays until the end of the year....more
On July 8, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a Proposed Rule regarding the 2016 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”). The Proposed Rule, in addition to proposing updates...more
On June 3, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee passed an original bill that aims to streamline and improve the Medicare Audit and Appeals Process. The Medicare appeals process has recently faced scrutiny from industry leaders...more
In March 2014, CMS temporarily suspended the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program until it secured new contracts. The contracts for the program expired in June 2014, and in August, CMS said that it would restart the...more
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced that the new RAC contracts in North Carolina should be ready by the end of the year. This means that, next year, RAC audits on hospitals and other providers will...more
This year critical access hospitals (CAH) have struggled to implement procedures to comply with both the "two-midnight" rule and the 96-hour physician certification requirement. The combination of both puts physicians in a...more
On September 29, 2014, CMS released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) report. According to the report, RACs collected $3.65 billion in Medicare overpayments during FY 2013. In addition, the report...more
CMS is offering to pay hospitals 68 percent of the allowable amount for all claims that are currently on appeal. Specifically, CMS is offering to settle "inpatient status" claims at 68 percent of the "net paid amount" within...more
On August 29, 2014, CMS issued settlement terms to acute care hospitals with pending appeals of denials for inpatient claims. CMS is offering to settle all qualifying claims at 68 percent of the “net paid amount” of such...more
On August 4, 2014, CMS announced that, due to the continued delay in awarding new Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) contracts, CMS will modify its current RAC contracts to allow for a limited number of reviews of Medicare...more
On July 9, 2014, the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging released a report titled “Improving Audits: How We Can Strengthen the Medicare Program for Future Generations.” Among other recommendations, the report...more
Criticism of the RAC (recovery audit contractor) program is becoming a national pastime. Needless to say, hospitals hated the program from the very beginning. And little wonder. The program pays private contractors a...more
Last week President Obama signed into law a measure to extend Medicare physician pay rates for one year and to extend the enforcement delay of the “Two-Midnight” rule through March 2015. Medicare Recovery Audit Contractors...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the deadline for compliance with the two-midnight rule through September 30, 2014. The rule provides that if an inpatient stay crosses two midnights, the...more
In February 2014, CMS made two announcements that affect future Medicare audits. First, CMS instructed RACs to stop issuing post-payment additional documentation requests (ADRs) after February 21 and instructed MACs to stop...more
Effective March 6, 2014, Medicare contractors may automatically deny claims that are “related” to other claims that have been denied as a result of pre- or postpayment review. Contractors need not issue Additional...more
A bipartisan group of 111 members of the United States House of Representatives sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on February 10, 2014, urging the Secretary to reform the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor...more
The Federal Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) was established in July 2005 to administer the Medicare appeals program. OMHA adjudicates appeals regarding Medicare entitlement and Medicare provider reimbursement....more
Armed with the Recovery Audit Contract (RAC) Program, the Federal government has been very successful in recouping Medicare overpayments from health care providers in recent years. During a RAC audit, program contractors...more