# Voluntary Refunds



## dballard2004 (Jun 28, 2011)

Does anyone know if CMS has a policy on voluntary refunds?  What I mean is if we do an audit and discover we coded the E/M level incorrectly and want to refund the money voluntarily to CMS, do they have a policy on how to do this?  Thanks.


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## cheermom68 (Jun 28, 2011)

*refunds*

All errors have to be refunded to CMS within 60 days of discovery, per their policy.
LeeAnn


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## Love Coding! (Jun 28, 2011)

*OIG Guidelines are vague*

In regards to overpayments, the previous reply is correct you have 60 days to refund upon discovery. 

The OIG does not detail what type of discoveries in order to refund.  I do internal documentation audits and I compare them to the ICD-9 codes selected and the CPT codes billed.  I also had that in the back of my mind for a while.  Our intent of these audits is for education...


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## dballard2004 (Jun 28, 2011)

Thanks to both of you!  Where would I find CMS rules for voluntary refunds.


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## Love Coding! (Jun 28, 2011)

dballard2004 said:


> Thanks to both of you!  Where would I find CMS rules for voluntary refunds.



Here is a condensed version of the OIG Volunatary Compliance Program Steps
http://www.vsb.org/sections/hl/compliance.pdf

And here is the actual OIG Voluntary Compliance Program from the Federal Register
http://oig.hhs.gov/authorities/docs/physician.pdf

Refer to page - 59443
Step Five: Responding To Detected Offenses and Developing Corrective Action Initiatives

I hope this helps..good luck!


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## Love Coding! (Jun 28, 2011)

021402 said:


> Here is a condensed version of the OIG Volunatary Compliance Program Steps
> http://www.vsb.org/sections/hl/compliance.pdf
> 
> And here is the actual OIG Voluntary Compliance Program from the Federal Register
> ...





Here is another link - refer to 433.316 on overpayments

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...gn=div6&view=text&node=42:4.0.1.1.4.6&idno=42


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## dballard2004 (Jun 28, 2011)

Thanks!


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