On May 9th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the start of a procurement process for new Medicare Fee for Service Recovery Audit Program contracts. The General Services Administration issued a Request for Quotes (RFQ) seeking four A/B Recovery Auditors, one national Durable Medical Equipment auditor and…
On May 13, 2013, the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (“AOPA”) filed suit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (“CMS”), alleging that payment denials by CMS and its Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”) are invalid. The lawsuit states that CMS…
Jessica Gustafson, Esq. and Abby Pendleton, Esq., co-chairs of the firm’s Medicare and RAC department authored an ABA Health eSource article titled “CMS Acquiesces to Hospital Pressure, Allows Part B Billing of Hospital Services Following Part A Denial of Inpatient Hospital Claims for Medical Necessity: Is It Enough?” To view…
On March 13, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) concurrently issued Ruling CMS-1455-NR (the “Ruling”) and a proposed rule for revising Medicare Part B billing policies in the event of Part A payment denials (the “Proposed Rule”). BACKGROUND Since the conclusion of the Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”)…
On February 19, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published OIG Report A-05-11-00071 (the “Report”), detailing the results of an audit to determine the adequacy of CMS’ collection of Medicaid overpayments identified in certain OIG audit reports. Under federal regulations (specifically 42…
CMS has posted on its website the latest RAC statistics. The statistics for the 4th quarter of FY 2012 show CMS collected $648 million in alleged overpayments and returned $46.5 million in underpayments. CMS’ report on the total amounts collected and returned from October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2012,…
Washington, DC – The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) today announced expected recoveries of about $6.9 billion from audits and investigations in its semi-annual report to Congress. The report focuses on OIG accomplishments for the second half of FY 2012 (April 1, 2012…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that Medicare Part B premiums (i.e., for physician services, outpatient hospital and durable medical equipment) will rise in 2013 by 5%–to $104.90 a month. The deductible for Part B services will increase from $140 in 2012 to $147 in 2013.…
Abby Pendleton, Esq. and Jessica Gustafson, Esq. of the HLP were quoted in the November 12, 2012 issue of Physician’s Money Digest in an article titled “Putting Practices on the RAC”. Pendleton and Gustafson were interviewed based on their experience in defending health care provider audits around the country and…
On November 1, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a final Durable Medical Equipment (“DME”) face-to-face policy. As a pre-condition to payment, the rule requires that a beneficiary receive a face-to-face encounter with a Physician, Physician Assistant (“PA”), Nurse Practitioner (“NP”), or Clinical Nurse Specialist (“CNP”)…