Home Health & Hospice Week

• Keep your eye on ZPICs, as their audits may be more liable to close your doors than any other Medicare contractor's.

That's because the Zone Program Integrity Contractors are authorized to use statistical sampling to identify overpayments from providers. That means millions of dollars in overpayment demands can come from a relatively small sample of claims.

ZPICs have generally focused on hospitals, physicians, skilled nursing facilities, physical therapists, and DME suppliers, notes ZPIC consulting firm Jackson Davis HealthCare on its website. But HHAs and hospices can be ZPIC targets too.

Case in point: The first reported ZPIC audit of a home care provider occurred in Louisiana in August, says the Home Care Association of Louis-iana. The provider "received a request for 30 re-cords, to be sent within 24 days," HCLA notes. The records span from mid 2008 to March 2010.