Audit improvements proposed

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 19, 2013—According to Chuck Bates of the RAC monitor, Congressmen Sam Graves (R-MO) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) have re-introduced the Medicare Audit Improvement Act legislation to improve the nation’s Medicare audit system. A news release issued by Rep. Graves office said the bill would amend the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 to rectify problems identified since the creation of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program as a part of that law. Specifically, the Medicare Audit Improvement Act would reinstate and make statutory a hard cap on Additional Document Requests (ADRs) on the part of Medicare auditors to two percent of hospital claims with a maximum of 500 ADRs per 45 days. Smaller hospitals in particular have expressed deep concern over the administrative burdens being placed on them by Medicare audit contractors, including large increases in the number of documents being requested.