Hospice Audit Series: Beyond Part D, OIG Scrutinizes the Hospice Industry to the Tune of $6.6 Billion
Hooper, Kearney and Macklin on Cutting Edge Topics in the False Claims Act
CMS estimates that between 2017 and 2021, Medicare Part A improperly paid $23.9 billion for inpatient hospital stays, with $7.8 billion attributable to short stays that did not qualify for Medicare Part A. On June 13, 2024,...more
On January 25, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that the Secretary of HHS violated the due process rights of Medicare beneficiaries by failing to provide an administrative...more
Health plans and their delegated IPAs are using a number of different tactics to deny payment for inpatient services by improperly classifying inpatient claims as observation or other types of outpatient status. Payers are...more
Effective for hospital inpatient admissions on or after October 1, 2018, CMS has removed the requirement that a signed physician order must be present in the medical record to establish inpatient coverage. While this guidance...more
On April 24, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the 2019 Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule (2019 Proposed IPPS Rule), which contains a number of proposals designed...more
On April 24, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Proposed Rule (CMS-1694-P). Among other changes, CMS proposes eliminating...more
On December 19, 2016, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) posted a report examining the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) “2-Midnight Rule.” The OIG concluded that...more
Effective September 12, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) lifted the temporary ban on patient status reviews of hospital short stays for Medicare beneficiaries. Those reviews are currently conducted by...more
Effective September 12, 2016, Beneficiary and Family Centered Care (BFCC) Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) resumed their hospital initial patient status reviews. The purpose of these reviews is to determine the...more
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 19, 2013, the two-midnight rule provided that an inpatient admission generally would only be payable under Medicare Part A if: (1) the admitting practitioner had an expectation,...more
- CMS Adopts Change to Benchmark and Shift in Enforcement - CMS Explains Reasoning Behind 0.2% Payment Reduction CMS has published discussions of the 2-midnight rule in two recent Federal Register publications. In the...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has revised the two-midnight rule to create an exception that will allow payment under Medicare Part A for certain medically necessary hospital stays that do not extend...more
On October 30, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Calendar Year 2016 Outpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule (2016 OPPS Final Rule). In the 2016 OPPS Final Rule, CMS finalizes...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a further delay, through December 31, 2015, of the Recovery Auditors’ (RA) audits of the “Two-Midnight” Rule. Congress previously passed a law delaying...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced, on August 12, 2015, that it has extended the enforcement delay of the controversial two-midnight rule governing short hospital stays until the end of the year....more
On July 1, 2015, CMS released a Proposed Rule that would revise the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Payment System payment rates for calendar year (CY) 2016, and would...more
On July 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the calendar year (CY) 2016 outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS)/ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system proposed rule that...more
On July 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released proposed updates to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System for Calendar Year...more