Home Health & Hospice Week

CMS lacks risk assessment, report says.

Medicare officials have a way to go in enhancing their antifraud strategy, but the feds are quick to identify one area of risk — home health.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has “not conducted a fraud risk assessment or designed and implemented a risk-based antifraud strategy for Medicare” as the Government Accountability Organization has previously recommended, the GAO says in a new report, “Medicare: Actions Needed to Better Manage Fraud Risks.”

But despite that lack, CMS officials are quick to identify “home health being a fraud risk priority,” the GAO report notes. The GAO also criticized CMS officials for not being able to “communicate, articulate, or cite a common CMS strategic approach to address fraud risks in its programs.”

The GAO once again urges CMS to conduct a fraud risk assessment and formulate and implement a fraud-fighting strategy accordingly. See the report at www.gao.gov/assets/700/693156.pdf.