Home Health & Hospice Week

Report singles out suppliers for scrutiny. The HHS Office of Inspector General wants HHS to keep an even closer eye on the DME industry. In its annual report of HHS management challenges, the OIG singles out durable medical equipment suppliers as requiring special scrutiny. The "OIG continues to identify significant vulnerabilities related to Medicare payments for DMEPOS, including (1) DME suppliers circumventing enrollment and billing controls and defrauding the program, (2) high improper payment rates for certain types of DMEPOS, and (3) inappropriate payment rates for certain DMEPOS," the report says. The OIG runs through the laundry list of reports it put out in 2007 and 2008 identifying DME-related fraud and abuse problems. "With increasing dollars at stake and a growing beneficiary population, the importance and the challenges of safeguarding this program are greater than ever," the OIG stresses. "Additionally, fraud, waste, and abuse schemes have become increasingly sophisticated and [...]