The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (“PEPPER”) is an electronic data report under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) that helps guide hospital’s auditing and monitoring services.
In 2014, PEPPER published new target areas for Short-Term Acute Care hospitals that were identified as prone to improper Medicare payments. Significantly, 6 new target areas related to patient “status” were established (i.e., to determine whether a beneficiary was appropriately admitted as an “inpatient”). Of note, while 4 of these target areas focus on hospital stays that did not cross 2 midnights, two of the target areas focus on 2 day hospital stays. Thus, it is clear that even if a hospital stay crosses 2 midnights, hospitals will be called upon to establish that the hospitalization itself was medically necessary.
Although the Recovery Auditors (i.e., “RACs”) presently are prohibited from conducting patient status reviews, Medicare Administrative Contractors (“MACs”) have been tasked to conduct “Probe and Educate” medical reviews, for the purposes of determining whether CMS’ new 2 midnight rule was satisfied.
For more information, or for questions regarding Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits and appeals, please contact Abby Pendleton, Esq. or Jessica Gustafson, Esq. at (248) 996 – 8510 or via email at apendleton@thehlp.com or jgustafson@thehlp.com.