HME providers aren't the only ones worried about CMS' new Recovery Audit Contractors. At a meeting March 9, members of the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council ticked off a number of concerns about the new RACs — most notably that the contractors are paid a contingency fee to identify improper payments. In addition, according to the docs, just getting medical records to the RACs will be a burden. In a letter addressed to CMS Acting Administrator Charlene Frizzera, the physician groups urged CMS to limit medical record requests to three in a 45-day period for solo practitioners. In addition, the letter said, the physician organizations "continue to believe that the RAC program is not the appropriate vehicle for achieving payment accuracy and will continue to advocate for its elimination and the redirection of incentive payments to physician outreach and education."
HME providers have questioned CMS' payment method for the RACs since a three-year demonstration began in 2005. And following a March 6 conference on the audit program, AAHomecare's Walt Gorski, vice president of government affairs, said it will have a "devastating impact on home care providers because we will be held responsible for what is in the medical record. AAHomecare believes there is a need for a new approach to stopping improper payments, focusing on better screening on the front end and denying entry into the Medicare program for entities that should not receive NPI numbers to begin with."
Following the RAC demonstration, which covered six states, CMS is set to roll the program out nationwide in 2010. For more, see RACs Ready to Rack Up Improper Payments, HomeCare Monday, Nov. 17, 2008.