CMS Wants CERT Documentation, Too

BALTIMORE — CMS will be conducting follow-up calls to
providers for the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT)
program.

According to a message from the agency: “Our staff may contact
you to obtain all necessary medical record documentation for claims
reviewed under the CERT program. Although you may have already
received letters and telephone calls from the CERT contractor,
these additional efforts by CMS to obtain adequate documentation
may change your claim’s status from ‘improper payment’ to ‘proper
payment.’ This will allow us to calculate a more accurate Medicare
FFS error rate, while also reducing the amount of improper
payments.”