In 2005, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid started the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program in three pilot states, where the program recovered over $900 million dollars during the three-year pilot. Due to the success of the pilot program, CMS expanded the program to all states in 2010, and…
Healthcare and healthcare law professionals across the country are noticing that as Medicare audit numbers are climbing, so too is the length of the Medicare appeals process. Once a provider or healthcare entity receives a denial from a Medicare contractor, the Medicare appeals process consists of five stages: • Redetermination,…
Last Friday, the vice president of legal affairs for the American Health Care Association (AHCA), Dianna De La Mare, reported that CMS will be combining the integrity responsibilities of the Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPICs) and the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) into one integrity contractor. These newly designated integrity contractors,…
Ensuring comprehensive documentation procedures are in place has become increasingly vital for all providers. However, recently compliance plans have become even more important for sleep labs, sleep centers, hospital-based sleep service providers, and non-hospital-based sleep service providers seeking Medicare reimbursement. According to a FY 2013 Department of Health & Human…
In our recent blog post, CMS Issues Demand Letters to Providers and Suppliers with Claims for Services Provided to Allegedly Incarcerated Beneficiaries, we discussed the large number of demand letters CMS released regarding Medicare overpayments for incarcerated beneficiaries. Since that blog post was written, CMS has issued an update, stating…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing demand letters seeking recoupment of reimbursement from medical providers and suppliers for Medicare beneficiaries that, according to data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), were allegedly “incarcerated” at the time services were provided. According to the Code of Federal Regulations…
On July 9, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the 2014 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule (CMS -1601-P). This 718 page document advocates for a shift in the Medicare OPPS and Medicare ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system to foster payment efficiency. In…
Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule mandating that long term care (LTC) facilities and hospice providers enter into written agreements if the facility chooses to arrange hospice services through a Medicare-certified hospice provider. The rule becomes effective on August 26, 2013. This final…
On June 24, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an advisory opinion announcing that by request of a surgical products manufacturer (the “Requestor”), based on the certifications and information provided, a proposed tiered rebate program will meet the requirements of…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have recently announced a tally of 29 settlements under the Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP). In the month of June alone, CMS settled six different cases of violations of the physician self-referral statute, also known as the Stark law, throughout the country.…