Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

HOSPITALS:

New Fraud Hotspots For Hospitals Revealed

Hospitals should hone in on these key compliance areas.

The HHS Office of Inspector General has released its work plan for 2005 - and it's got a few new bones to pick with Medicare hospitals.

Don't get caught off guard. Here's what you may need to address to be ready when federal investigators come calling this year.

  • Graduate Medical Education. Expect investigators to target alternative payment methodologies for GME for the costs of training residents in non-hospital settings.

  • Post-Acute Care Transfers. Watch out for overpayments involving patients in certain diagnosis-related groups who are discharged from a prospective payment system inpatient hospital and admitted to a post-acute-care setting.

  • Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities. The OIG says it will zero in on admissions, billing for interrupted stays, outlier payments, patients' length of stay, cost of services and late patient assessments.

  • Long-Term Care Hospitals. High payments and "explosive growth" in LTCs have made this provider group a prime target. Get ready to defend the appropriateness of the level of care provided to patients.

  • Critical Access Hospitals. The OIG says it will examine costs for inpatient and outpatient services both before and after a hospital's conversion to CAH status.

  • Rebates Paid to Hospitals. Are you properly identifying purchase credits as a separate line item in cost reports? The OIG wants to know.

  • Lifetime Reserve Days. Make sure you are adequately notifying beneficiaries.

    To read the work plan, go to http://oig.hhs.gov/w-new.html.

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