Home Health & Hospice Week

• Watch out for errors on your 1099 Misc form, or you could be in tax trouble. The Internal Revenue Service uses the 1099 Misc form to verify a company's income for tax purposes, explains FR&R Healthcare Consulting in Deerfield, Ill. But providers served by RHHI Palmetto GBA have reported discrepancies on their 1099 forms, FR&R says in a client bulletin.

In fact, HHAs have found that 1099s from all three intermediaries -- Palmetto, Cahaba GBA, and National Government Services -- have errors, says consultant Tom Boyd with Rohnert Park,Calif.-based Boyd & Nicholas.

The problem: The amount reported in box 6 (medical and health care payments) doesn't equal the amount the intermediary paid the agency that year, FR&R explains. "These amounts have been reported in amounts exceeding $200,000 and, in some cases, represent variances in excess of 20 percent," the consultants say in the bulletin.

Palmetto is including items like Voids and Gross Up Debit Memos in the total, which are distorting the amount, FR&R maintains.

Providers with this problem should contact their intermediary and request a reconciliation report. "Every provider needs to take [such] actions," Boyd tells Eli.