This morning, Andrew Wachler, managing partner of Wachler & Associates, appeared on RACmonitor’s special coverage of the ALJ Appellant Forum taking place today in Washington. Mr. Wachler provided some context for the occasioning of this forum. “When you really look at the event,” Andrew Wachler said, “it starts back in 2005.” This was when the appeal system was changed to align Part A and Part B appeals. The change in legislation provided specialized administrative law judges, in an attempt to curb excessive wait times in the appeals process. The legislation imposed a statutory requirement to issue a response within 90 days of appeal filing. However, Mr. Wachler says, “the brunt of hearing requests have not been acted upon.” In a conversation with Judge Nancy J. Griswold, Chief Administrative Law Judge, Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA), Mr. Wachler had previously suggested the establishment of a committee of stakeholders to meet and discuss inefficiencies in the process. Judge Griswold suggested such a forum would occur, and today’s event appears to be just that.
The main question today is whether the forum represents a meaningful attempt at reform and addressing the backlog, or whether it is merely meant to placate the providers. Mr. Wachler remains skeptically optimistic. However, while the forum today will provide some practical tips on navigating the ALJ appeals process, Mr. Wachler does not expect it to solve what he believes is a significant problem – “the holding of provider’s money while we have these delays is unconscionable….people are being put out of business while they wait.”
Mr. Wachler will be appearing again this afternoon on RACmonitor. Information on their special coverage of the ALJ Appellant Forum can be found here. If you have any questions regarding the information provided at the forum, please contact an experienced healthcare attorney at Wachler & Associates at 248-544-0888 or wapc@wachler.com.