Compliance

Published on: May 19, 2014

OIG Proposes Significant Changes to Provider Exclusion Authority

Last week, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a Proposed Rule that changes its provider exclusion authority and significantly alters certain provider exclusion procedures and the substantive bases for exclusion from a Federal healthcare program. The Proposed Rule was released in conjunction with another Proposed Rule on the same date regarding Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs). Comments regarding the rules are due on July 8.

§ 1128 of the Social Security Act grants the OIG authority to exclude certain individuals and entities from participation in Federal healthcare programs. If the OIG determines that an individual or entity has engaged in certain prohibited conduct, it must ban such a person or entity from participation in Federal healthcare programs for a statutorily mandated five year minimum period. However, many bases for exclusion are merely “permissive”, where the OIG retains discretion in deciding whether to exclude an individual or entity.

The Proposed Rule provides the OIG with three new bases upon which they may permissively exclude a provider or entity: the failure of ordering, referring, or prescribing providers to furnish payment information under Section 1128(b)(11); knowingly making, or causing to be made, false statements, omissions, or misstatements of material fact on a federal health care program application under Section 1128(b)(16); or convictions in connection with obstruction of a healthcare audit under Section 1128(b)(2).

Published on: April 14, 2014

OIG Finds Limited Compliance with Face-to-Face Home Health Requirements

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

In a report released on Thursday, April 10, the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) found that, thus far, there has been limited compliance with the face-to-face documentation requirement for home health providers. As a result, the OIG determined that Medicare paid $2 billion to home health providers that should not have been paid. In an effort to increase compliance with the face-to-face requirement, the OIG has outlined specific recommendations that CMS could implement which would impact home health providers. The OIG’s findings and recommendations should serve as an alert to home health providers to carefully review their compliance with face-to-face encounter documentation requirements.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) included language that established the face-to-face encounter requirement. Although initially scheduled to be effective January 1, 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) delayed implementation until April 1, 2011.

The face-to-face encounter documentation requirement provides that for initial certification periods only, a home health agency must obtain documentation from the certifying physician that the physician had a face-to-face encounter with the patient. The face-to-face documentation must be signed and dated by the physician. It must include the date the encounter occurred, and include a brief narrative that describes why the patient is homebound and why the skilled services are medically necessary to treat the patient’s illness or injury. A home health agency’s reimbursement for the home health services for an initial certification period is dependent upon the certifying physician’s proper documentation of the face-to-face encounter.

Published on: February 26, 2014

Medicare Therapy Cap Exception Extended

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On December 18, 2013, Congress enacted legislation extending the Medicare therapy cap until March 31, 2014. The 2014 outpatient therapy cap limits are $1,920 for physical therapy and speech-language pathology services combined, and $1,920 for occupational therapy services. In order to qualify for an exception to the therapy cap limits and continue to receive Medicare reimbursement, therapists must first document the need for medically reasonable and necessary services in the beneficiary’s medical record and, separately, the therapist must indicate on the Medicare claim for services that the outpatient therapy services above the therapy cap are medically reasonable and necessary. Further, starting January 1, 2014, the Medicare outpatient therapy cap limits will also apply to therapy services performed in critical access hospitals.

Providers that meet or exceed the $3,700 threshold in therapy expenditures will be subject to a manual review. The manual review process for 2013 is not expected to change in 2014. Under the manual medical review process, Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) will conduct either prepayment or postpayment review for claims exceeding $3,700 depending on the state. Currently, only Florida, California, Michigan, Texas, New York, Louisiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri are subject to prepayment review, while the rest of the nation is subject to postpayment review.

A bill that is currently working its way through Congress seeks to permanently repeal the therapy caps. The Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Act has bipartisan support and its sponsors argue that an arbitrary cap on outpatient services without regard to clinical need discriminates against some of the most vulnerable and needy Medicare recipients.

Published on: January 17, 2014

OIG Approves Industry Stakeholders’ Contributions to a Patient Assistance Program under the Anti-Kickback Statute

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released an advisory opinion that highlights long-standing OIG guidance as to how industry stakeholders can contribute to independent, bona fide charitable assistance programs. In this case, the patient assistance program (“Requestor”) provides grants to patients suffering from a specific disease for insurance premiums and other expenses not covered by insurance. The Requestor is a supporting organization of a nonprofit charitable foundation (“Foundation”) that exists solely to support the disease.

The Requestor’s main source of funding is the Foundation. However, all funds received from the Foundation are ultimately donations by pharmaceutical manufactures of the drugs used to treat the disease. The Requestor thus sought an advisory opinion to determine if such an arrangement would be grounds for civil monetary penalties under section 1128A(a)(5) of the Social Security Act (“Act”), covering improper beneficiary inducements, or other provisions of the Act as those sections relate to the Federal anti-kickback statute.

In the advisory opinion, AO No. 13-19, the OIG reiterates long-standing OIG guidance that industry stakeholders may contribute to the health care safety net for financially needy patients, including beneficiaries of Federal health care programs, by contributing to independent, bona fide charitable assistance programs. The OIG also states that such programs should not exert influence over donors, and donors should not have links to the charity that could directly or indirectly influence the charity’s operations or subsidy programs. Further, such programs cannot function as a conduit for payments from donors to patients, impermissibly influence beneficiary choices, or engage in practices that effectively subsidize a donor’s particular product.

Published on: January 14, 2014

OIG Releases Report Regarding Clinicians Associated with High Cumulative Part B Payments

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently released a study detailing problems associated with overpayments to clinicians who provide Medicare Part B services. The study specifically focused on what the OIG referred to as “high cumulative payment” clinicians, who are clinicians receiving total annual payments of more than $3 million for Part B services during CY 2009. The OIG recognizes that this subset of providers poses a greater risk for improper payment or fraud in the Medicare system and will seek to implement new programs and policies to detect those problems.

The study found that from 2008 to 2011, both the number of Medicare Part B clinicians generating high cumulative payments, as well as the total amount of those payments, increased almost 78%. Most importantly, the study identified 303 clinicians who supplied more than $3 million in Part B services in 2009. Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) and Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPICs) further identified 104 specific individuals of the 303 (34%) for improper payments reviews. By the end of 2011, MACs and ZPICs reviewed 80 of the 104 clinicians and identified $34 million in over payments. Repercussions for these clinicians included suspended licenses and mandatory prepayment reviews, and even two indictments. The OIG recommends that CMS establish a cumulative payment threshold above which a clinician’s claims would be selected for review as well as implementing a procedure for timely identification and review of clinicians’ claims that exceed the cumulative payment threshold.

The OIG views the results of this investigation into high cumulative payment clinicians as a more useful method of identifying potentially improper payments. As a result of this study, clinicians who are reimbursed through Medicare Part B should ensure that their billing practices are in compliance with Medicare documentation and reimbursement rules, as well as determine whether their utilization rates differ significantly from their peers.

Published on: December 13, 2013

CMS Advisory Opinion Approves Proposed Hospital Expansion under Stark Law’s Whole Hospital Exception

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently released a favorable advisory opinion, CMS AO-2013-03, that interprets the “whole hospital” exception to the physician self-referral prohibition commonly known as the Stark Law. CMS determined that the proposed arrangement, which adds a new observation unit and 14 observation beds to a physician-owned hospital, complies with the “whole hospital” exception’s restriction on facility expansions.

In general, the Stark Law prohibits the referral of Medicare patients for designated health services (“DHS”) to an entity in which the referring physician has a financial relationship. The law also prohibits the entity that furnishes DHS as a result of a prohibited referral from billing Medicare, the beneficiary, or any other entity.

The Stark Law contains several exceptions to which the self-referral prohibition does not apply, including the “whole hospital” exception under Section 1877(d)(3). The “whole hospital” exception allows referring physicians to have physician ownership or investment interests in a hospital provided that the referring physician is authorized to perform services at the hospital and the ownership or investment interest is in the hospital itself.

Published on: November 25, 2013

CMS Releases Update on Medicare Claim Denials for Incarcerated Beneficiaries

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On November 20, 2013, CMS released an update regarding the Medicare denials for claims submitted by providers and suppliers for beneficiaries who were allegedly incarcerated during the dates of service. The large volume of denials, which occurred during this past summer, were incorrect as CMS acknowledged that the systems that track whether a beneficiary is ineligible for Medicare services due to incarceration were incorrectly updated. Medicare providers and suppliers nationwide were impacted by this error as Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) automatically denied and in many cases recouped alleged improper claims for services provided to incarcerated beneficiaries. Although CMS acknowledged the errors in late July 2013, it is not until now that Medicare providers and suppliers have received concrete information that addresses how the errors will be fixed and how correct claims will be paid appropriately. CMS is now making strides to refund improper collections and to implement fundamental changes to its claims processing systems. Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will be responsible for reprocessing claims denied in error. Please see our earlier blog posts regarding CMS’s efforts to recoup reimbursement for services provided to incarcerated beneficiaries here.

According to a FAQ Sheet available on CMS’s website, CMS anticipates that incorrectly denied or cancelled claims associated with allegedly incarcerated beneficiaries from June through August of 2013 will be refunded to suppliers via an automated process by the beginning of December. Medicare provider claims denied due to the incorrect information regarding incarcerated beneficiaries between June through August of 2013 will also be reprocessed by the MACs. According to the FAQ bulletin, CMS expects the reprocessing to be completed by the end of December.

Suppliers and providers should be aware that repayments “may not exactly match the original payment that was made for the claims.” Factors such as CMS business processes, outstanding payments, or changes in a beneficiary’s paid deductible amounts may be reflected in the final claim repayment amounts remunerated to the affected providers.

Published on: November 18, 2013

“Probe and Educate” Hospital Inpatient Audits Extended an Additional 3 Months

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On November 12, 2013, CMS held a third open door forum (ODF) discussing the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS)/Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Final Rule (CMS-1599-F). As of November 4, 2013, the patient status probe review period that was previously applicable through December 31, 2013 has been extended through March 31, 2014. CMS has issued helpful guidance on questions and answers relating to patient status reviews, selecting hospital claims for patient status reviews, and reviewing hospital claims for patient status.

These “probe and educate” reviews will be conducted on a prepayment basis to assess whether hospitals are in compliance with the admission order requirements and 2-midnight benchmark. Because these reviews will be conducted on a prepayment basis, the MACs will deny any claims not meeting these three requirements. The initial sample probe reviews will consist of 10-25 claims per hospital with dates of admission from October 1 through December 31, 2013.

MAC review of the inpatient hospital claims will provide outreach and education about the inpatient rule and will help ensure that hospitals understand and comply with the Medicare requirements. Upon completion of the 10-25 claim reviews, if the MACs do not find any issues with the particular hospital’s claim documentation then further probes will not be conducted for that hospital (unless there are significant changes in billing patterns for admissions).

Published on: November 11, 2013

Open Door Forum on Final IPPS Rule Tomorrow at 1:00

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

Tomorrow from 1:00-2:00 pm Eastern Time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold a third open door forum (ODF) to discuss the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS)/Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Final Rule (CMS-1599-F).

On August 2, 2013, CMS issued the FY 2014 IPPS/LTCH Final Rule (final rule) which finalized proposals related to patient status during short-stay hospital cases, including the new standards for inpatient admission and the medical review criteria for payment of hospital short-stay inpatient services under Medicare Part A. On September 5, 2013, CMS issued sub-regulatory guidance regarding the final rule’s requirements for hospital inpatient admission order and certification, which are conditions of payment under Medicare Part A. This sub-regulatory guidance was issued in part as a result of the significant confusion surrounding CMS’s requirements for inpatient admission orders and physician certifications of inpatient services. CMS also posted subregulatory instructions and frequently asked questions, relating to the claim selection process and preliminary review guidelines, for conducting patient status reviews of claims with dates of admission beginning in October 2013.

Questions on the two midnight provision for admission and medical review may be sent to CMS before the ODF begins via email to IPPSAdmissions@cms.hhs.gov. Questions on Part B inpatient billing and clarifications regarding physician order and certification can be sent to Section3133DSH@cms.hhs.gov.

Published on: October 31, 2013

CMS Reaches Four Settlements Under the Stark Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol in August and September

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced four settlements via the Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP) under the federal Stark Law. CMS reached three Stark law settlements in August 2013 and on additional settlement in September 2013, totaling approximately $178,000.

On August 19, 2013, CMS settled Stark law violations by a Louisiana physician group practice. Under the SRDP, the Louisiana practice disclosed that it violated the Stark Law because two of its physician arrangements failed to satisfy the requirements of the in-office ancillary services exception to the Stark Law. The violations were settled for $13,572.

On August 20, 2013, CMS reached a settlement with a non-profit community hospital located in Minnesota which disclosed that its arrangement with a physician group practice for the rental of office space and performance of support services failed to satisfy the requirements of the applicable exception under the Stark Law. The Minnesota hospital’s violations were settled for $9,570.