AAHomecare seeks relief from audits

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2012—The American Association for Homecare (www.aahomecare.org) has provided comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) saying the agency should require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reduce the audit burden and improve the quality and utility of the information its contractors collect.

The comments came in response to CMS seeking approval from OMB for additional documentation requests (ADRs). OMB is supposed to ensure that the information government agencies collect is useful, necessary and not overly burdensome.

AAHomecare said CMS should:

• Require contractors to develop, officially publish and adhere to consistent documentation standards that apply prospectively in the four DME MAC jurisdictions.
• Require contractors to request only the level and quality of information necessary to perform a review.
• Require contractors to implement procedures to prevent repeat audits of a beneficiary’s claims for the same piece of equipment.
• Allow contractors to rely on documentation available in a provider’s records to verify physicians’ signatures or proof of delivery.