Fraud & Abuse:
GAO Wants RACs To Focus On Home Care Claims
Published on Tue May 25, 2010
CMS should toughen up procedures to fight improper payments. You may feel like your life is getting tougher as federal agencies ramp up enforcement against Medicare fraud, but just wait -- it could get even harder. Home health agencies and durable medical equipment suppliers are especially vulnerable to improper payments under Medicare, warned the Government Accountability Office's Kathleen King in June 15 testimony before Congress. King profiled the challenges and strategies for preventing improper Medicare payments in her June 15 testimony before two House committees. If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services takes the GAO's advice, providers could find they have more payment hoops to jump through to obtain their rightful reimbursement. And CMS is likely to take that advice following President Obama's directive to cut Medicare improper payment rates in half, observers predict (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIX, No. 22, p. 175). Target: The GAO zeroes in on home [...]