Healthcare providers are no strangers to Medicare audits and the havoc they can impose, but with careful billing, attention to detail, and adequate documentation, it is possible to turn the tide. However, a recent trend indicates that these audits are being examined much more closely and are quickly morphing into…
As the burden placed on physician practices by government regulation and insurance company practices grows ever larger, many small practices find their existing practice model growing less and less viable. The combination of low reimbursement from government programs, endless regulatory and compliance requirements, billing and coding disputes, prior authorizations, risk…
Healthcare providers and suppliers enrolled in Medicare are subject to a length list of regulatory and compliance requirements, among which is a duty to report information about a corporate provider’s ownership to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). A frequently misunderstood distinction in these reporting requirements is the…
Hospice care has long been an area of program integrity focus for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and hospice providers are subject to greater scrutiny and regulation than other provider types. This scrutiny is generally rooted in concerns relating to both fraudulent business practices and patient care.…
The appeal of claim denials after a Medicare audit can be a long and complex process. Such audit appeals generally involve large amounts of documentation as evidence, usually medical records. There are many rules governing the submission of this documentation as evidence and many strategic considerations that a healthcare provider…
Congress recently passed a limited extension of certain flexibilities relating to Medicare coverage of telemedicine. While the current extension is a stop-gap measure that expires March 31, 2025, it may signal Congressional acknowledgement of the importance of these flexibilities to healthcare providers and patients across the country and an intent…
When a healthcare provider’s claims are reviewed or audited by a payor or insurance plan, the payor often asserts various deficiencies in the provider’s claims or documentation. The payor then alleges that the provider has received an overpayment for those claims and demands the provider pay it back. Appealing claims…
The most complex step in the Medicare claims appeals process is generally the third step, a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). The ALJ hearing represents both the first time in the claims appeal process that the case is reviewed by a party other than a Medicare contractor and…
The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued several new work plan items aimed at Medicare Part B payments for skin substitutes. Part B reimbursement for skin substitutes products has long been a thorn in the side of Medicare. Medicare is generally required by federal law to reimburse certain…
Shortly after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) began, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which established the Provider Relief Fund (PRF). The goal of the PRF program was to provide financial support to healthcare providers across the nation in response to the unprecedented challenges…