RAC AUDITS ARE UNDERWAY
Yesterday, November 4, 2009, I attended the Ohio Health Care Association's Seminar on Medicare's Recovery Audit Contractors ("RACs"). RACs are independent contracting agencies hired by Medicare to assist in the identification and recovery of improper payments made to Medicare Providers. (Improper payments include both overpayments and underpayments made to Providers). The RACs are compensated on a contingent basis -- they will be paid a percentage of the money they identify and which was improperly paid to Providers. In other words, the more improper payments identified, the more money the RAC will earn.
In the Tax Relief and Healthcare Act of 2006, Congress mandated that permanent RAC programs be instituted across the United States by January 1, 2010. As part of the mandate, however, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was required to conduct "outreach" sessions across the country before any audit could be conducted. Ohio received its "outreach session" yesterday as part of the seminar. This means that RAC AUDITS are about to begin.
If you are a Medicare Provider and bill fee-for-service programs you will be affected.
See my next Blog post on how RACs work, and let me know if you have any questions.
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