Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Federal regulators continue to intensify their focus on hospices, operators may begin seeing an influx of Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) activity.
CMS contracts with RACs to conduct post-payment reviews designed to recover any funds that may have been overspent.
RAC audits can re-examine hospice claims going back as long as three years — and more of them may be coming, according to Kelly Grahovac, general manager of The van Halem Group, who spoke at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) Financial Management Conference.
“The president’s budget was approved for $2.5 billion directly related to health care fraud abuse. So, the federal government knows that abuse happens,” Grahovac said. “They know that fraud is rampant, and they want to make sure that they protect that trust fund. They’re putting money in to fund these audit contractors and to review your claims, which also means we’re going to see an uptick in audits and likely an uptick in RAC audit volume.”
As with most regulatory interventions, complete and accurate documentation and error-free claims are a hospice’s best defense, Grahovac said.
Click here for the full article.
Would your agency be ready for an audit? Do you struggle with complete and accurate documentation? Contact Corridor today to learn how a compliance audit could help.
About Corridor
For over 30 years, Corridor has partnered with home health and hospice providers, delivering powerful solutions to support the unique challenges of caring for patients in the home. Our team of operations executives, clinicians, and nationally renowned industry experts have run provider organizations and resolved the same challenges you face. Contact us today to learn how we can help you.
To receive the most important industry updates, insights and news impacting home health and hospice, please make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
