Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry points finger at confusing, overly complex documentation rules. You may think the seat can't get any hotter for durable medical equipment suppliers, but the HHS Office of Inspector General just turned the heat up another notch. Three out of five 2007 wheelchair claims the OIG inspected did not meet Medicare documentation requirements, the watchdog agency says in a new report. Two out of five claims had multiple errors per claim, the OIG says. Out of $189 million the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Medicare beneficiaries paid for power wheelchairs in a six-month period during that year, $112 million was improper due to faulty documentation, the OIG says based on a 375-claim sample. Biggest offenders: Complex rehab power wheelchairs had a higher documentation error rate, the OIG says. So did standard power wheelchairs submitted by low-volume suppliers. The specialty evaluation report was another hot spot. It was "one [...]