Home Health & Hospice Week

If you haven't heard from Medicare's new claims recoupment bounty hunters yet, that is likely to change sooner than you may think.

Recovery Audit Contractors have already targeted a score of durable medical equipment topics for review, and hospice and home health agency topics are likely to be next. More RAC heat may be on the way, since President Obama signed an executive order last month giving RACs more fuel.

The executive order targets waste and fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs, the White House says in a release. The order praises the work of RACs, which receive financial incentives to find improper payments.

RACs "have been demonstrated through pilot programs to be highly effective," the White House cheers. "In fact, expanded use of payment recapture audits could return at least $2 billion in taxpayer money over the next three years -- double the current amount of projected recovered costs."

In addition, the president signed a presidential memorandum last month that directs all federal departments and agencies to expand and intensify their use of payment recapture audits. The president specifically named the RAC pilot "successes" in California and New York in his remarks on health insurance reform in St. Charles, Mo., according to news reports.

Obama also supports the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act bipartisan legislation,which expands government agencies' ability to fund the audits with recaptured payments.