Home Health & Hospice Week

Recovery Audit Contractors may not have cracked down on home health agency and hospice providers yet, but that day is likely coming. And RACs are building up steam collecting overpayments on durable medical equipment suppliers. Anew CMS report reveals that during fiscal year 2010, RACs collected $75.4 million from providers that were overpaid by their Medicare contractors. But that number pales in comparison to the amount the RACs collected just in the first three months of 2011. Between January and March, the RACs collected $162 million in overpayments. The good news: Despite their reputation as "bounty hunters," the RACs do appear to be returning money to providers that were underpaid. During the first quarter of 2011, the RACs returned $22.6 million to providers. All told, they found $184.6 million in incorrect Medicare payments during the first three months of this year. Two of the four RACs' top denial reasons were [...]