On August 12, 2024, OIG announced the results of an audit of payments made to hospitals for inpatient claims with the Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups (MS-DRGs) that require ninety-six hours of consecutive...more
A recent report issued by OIG finding an Indiana community hospital owed over $22 million in extrapolated overpayments carries some important lessons for hospitals audited under OIG’s hospital compliance program. As described...more
Hospice audits - In late 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded its targeted probe and educate (TPE) audit program to include hospices....more
In its Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2012, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it would begin reviews of Medicare payments to hospitals to determine compliance...more
The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) recently defended its practices pertaining to hospital compliance reviews in a published response to a letter from the American Hospital...more
Here’s how the catch works. A hospital admits and treats a Medicare patient who needs care. The hospital bills Medicare and gets paid. Later—usually much later—a RAC auditor rules that the patient needed only outpatient care...more
Earlier this month, CMS posted three new documents related to the 2-midnight rule for inpatient admissions on its webpage for inpatient hospital reviews: new FAQs, as well as CMS directions for selecting hospital claims for...more