“In CMS’s continuing effort to take “a strategic approach to protecting taxpayer dollars and reducing regulation to put patients over paperwork,” Administrator Seema Verma recently highlighted changes to the Recovery Audit Program that are intended to make the program more provider friendly. Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) review payments made to healthcare providers under Medicare Fee-for-Service plans. RACs have been controversial among providers due to concerns about their accuracy. In addition, although they are charged with identifying both overpayments and underpayments, unlike UPICs and MACs, RACs receive a percentage of the overpayments they recover, which historically has caused some disgruntled providers to characterize RACs as “bounty hunters” that are less concerned with program integrity than with their own bottom lines. Administrator Verma acknowledges that CMS has received many complaints in the past from providers that have found the audits to be time consuming and expensive.”
“Administrator Verma’s post highlights improvements to the Recovery Audit Program that should improve RAC accuracy and benefit providers…” Read the full article here.
Source: CMS Administrator Touts Changes to RAC Program – By Morgan Lewis, June 10, 2019. JD Supra.
