The Biden Administration is planning to rescind the “Most Favored Nation” rule, which would have employed a model that required Medicare to pay no more for certain drugs than the price paid for those drugs by other developed nations. On September 13, 2020, former President Trump signed an executive order…
The August 12, 2021 issue of the Medical Learning Network (MLN) Connects newsletter indicates that CMS is planning to resume the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) audit program. CMS temporarily suspended pre-payment reviews under the TPE program in response to the Covid-19 public health emergency (PHE) in March 2020. While…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) FY 2022 Budget Justification request to Congress indicates a greater focus on audit activities, including a doubling of CMS’ medical review budget, and an effort to decrease the number of claim denials overturned through the Medicare appeals process. While still in the…
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) waived many of the restrictions that limited Medicare coverage for healthcare services for telemedicine and allowed for much greater use of these services. Among these was the…
Important deadlines for hospitals to report cardiac medical device-related overpayments are fast approaching. Based on an audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), required hospitals to investigate and report any overpayments from the last six years related to manufacturing credits for…
Many of the Medicare requirements surrounding telemedicine have been greatly relaxed or waived entirely during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Providers and patients wondered if these changes would end or if some might become permanent. In May 2021, Congress introduced H.R.3447, a bill to amend the Social Security Act to…
The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear an appeal challenging the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) site-neutral payment policy, allowing the regulation to move forward. Hospitals originally sued to prevent the rule from taking effect, but were ultimately unsuccessful when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…
A healthcare practice or other provider or supplier receives a letter from their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC). The letter notifies the provider that they have been selected for a Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) review. This initial letter, the Notice of Review, likely does not include any specific records requests…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with a Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC) who provides support for a variety of tasks aimed at lowering improper payment rates and increasing efficiencies of the medical review functions of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Noridian Healthcare Solutions was selected as…
Two similar and inter-related, but sometimes misunderstood, terms in healthcare law are “in office ancillary” and “incident to.” While both may apply to the same circumstances, they are distinct concepts and should be understood separately. “In Office Ancillary” services are an exception to the Physician Self-Referral Law, often referred to…