Recently, CMS released a related change request (CR) 7838, which informs Medicare contractors about a new addition to the “Medicare Benefit Policy Manual,” Chapter 9, Section 90, which is titled, “Caps and Limitations on Hospice Payment.” A summary of the key provisions of the new Chapter 9, Section 90 of the “Medicare Benefit Policy Manual,” […]
The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently released a Report on the National Medicaid Audit Program (“NMAP”), which found that “private contractors received $102 million to review Medicaid fraud data, yet had only found about $20 million in overpayments since 2008.” In summary, the Report found that compared with initial test audits and more recent collaborative […]
On June 1, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (the “OIG”) issued its Advisory Opinion No. 12-06, which provides long-awaited guidance to the health care industry regarding the legal permissibility of an anesthesia delivery service model commonly referred to as the “company model.” Insofar as Advisory Opinion No. 12-06 […]
In their June newsletter, The Record, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) recommended that physicians “consult with their legal counsel periodically.” The problem that BCBSM identified is the situation where physicians prescribe and dispense durable medical equipment and prosthetics and orthotics items in order to provide a means for their patients to be ambulatory […]
On May 18, 2012, Medicare released their 2nd Quarter Newsletter regarding the recovery efforts of each of the region’s Recovery Audit Contractors: DCS, CGI, Connolly, and HDI. CGI Federal has the lowest level of overpayment recoupments and underpayment identification. Connolly and HDI/HMS are identifying and correcting exceedingly more improper payments compared to CGI and DCS. […]
Changes to Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”) tracking and reporting of RAC-associated reopenings and appeals data were recently implemented. Specifically, CMS Transmittal 1093, dated May 23, 2012, deleted Business Requirement 7604.2.4, required under Change Request (“CR”) 7469, which mandated specific data transfer protocols related to the information. The Business Requirement was deleted due to RAC-data warehouse […]
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday that it has settled, for $750,000, a data breach lawsuit filed against South Shore Hospital under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The alleged HIPAA violation arose from unencrypted back-up tapes that South Shore sent offsite to a data […]
The New York State Department of Financial Services (“Department”) recently issued a highly critical report about out-of-network billing practices in New York State. The report stems from the Department’s receipt of frequent complaints from patients who unexpectedly receive bills from specialists or other providers who they did not know were out-of-network. The Department indicated that […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has extended the implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act Physician Payments Sunshine Act (“Sunshine Act”), which was promulgated as a result of Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. CMS will not require manufacturers of drugs, devices, biological, or medical supplies to begin […]
In four new recently posted frequently asked questions (FAQs) (select Fraud and Abuse in the left column), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers new guidance regarding the CMS Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol. On September 23, 2010, CMS published the Medicare self-referral disclosure protocol (“SRDP”) pursuant to Section 6409(a) of the Patient Protection […]
Health Law Attorney Blog