Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

New regs would charge you for your trouble. Your Medicare payments are poised to come with a lot more strings if a new proposed regulation is finalized as-is. In the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law enacted in March, Congress approved a number of new fraud- and abuse-fighting provisions. Now the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed the regulations for the mandates. "These proposed regulations and the new tools granted to enforcers in them represent enhanced commitment to fight fraud and abuse," notes Washington, D.C.-based attorney Elizabeth Hogue. The regs aim to work "by controlling who participates in the programs and who is allowed to remain in the programs." Increased Medicare Screening Adds Costs One big change will be in beefing up Medicare screening both for new applicants and providers revalidating their enrollment. Under the proposed screening procedures that would take effect in 2011, [...]