Audits:
RACs ANNOUNCE FOCUS ON HOME CARE
Published on Tue Mar 24, 2009
Take these 6 steps to prepare for the audit onslaught. Get ready to feel the pain that doctors and hospitals have undergone at the hands of Recovery Audit Contractors. These medical review bounty hunters are rolling out in 24 states now and will start activities in the remaining states in August (see Eli's HCW,Vol. XVIII, No. 13, p. 99 for a list of RACs, their regions, and their rollout timelines). In their three-year pilot, RACs racked up a whopping $1 billion in corrected overpayments. Previously, home care providers weren't sure if or when RACs would get around to reviewing their claims, since bigger-money targets like hospitals and physicians were available. But now it's clear that RACs will be focusing on home health agencies, hospices, and durable medical equipment suppliers too. "RACs will be receiving Home Health and Hospice data in the next few weeks," the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid [...]