Medicaid hospice payments continue to draw the attention of the HHS Office of Inspector General, and that may cost one Colorado hospice $75,000. The OIG examined Colorado payments to Evercare Hospice & Palliative Care, it says in a new report.
It found about $16,000 in overpayments to the hospice due to Medicaid claims system problems such as failing to reduce payments due to recipients’ financial contributions and using incorrect room and board payment rates. The OIG then extrapolated the findings and estimated a nearly $124,000 overpayment from October 2009 to September 2011. Colorado should recoup the $75,000 federal government share and refund it to the government, the OIG recommends.
Evercare disputed the statistical estimation, the OIG notes in the report at http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region7/71304204.pdf.