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In response to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) titled Limited Compliance with Medicare’s Home Health Face-to-Face Documentation Requirements, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has decided to audit all home health agencies (“HHAs”) in the country. In its report, OIG detailed its findings stemming from a review of 644 home health face-to-face encounter documents that were analyzed to determine if they confirmed encounters and contained the required elements. OIG reported that 32 percent of home health claims that required face-to-face encounters did not meet Medicare requirements. OIG estimated that this resulted in $2 billion in inappropriate payments. After reviewing the study’s results, OIG recommended that CMS:

  • Consider requiring a standardized form to ensure that physicians include all elements required for the face-to-face documentation;
  • Develop a specific strategy to communicate directly with physicians about the face-to-face requirement; and
  • Develop other oversight mechanisms for the face-to-face requirement.

At the end of the OIG report, CMS concurred with these three recommendations. In response, CMS reported that it is implementing an oversight plan of HHAs through the Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (“SMRC”), one of CMS’s newest tools meant to ensure program integrity. CMS stated that “the SMRC will perform approximately five document-only reviews for every HHA in the country to validate that the most recent/valid face-to-face encounter is in the medical record.” CMS reported that this will be a one-year, service-wide review of every HHA and CMS will provide further recommendations after reviewing the results.

Additionally, CMS has published proposed electronic and paper versions of its clinical documentation template to assist physicians in documenting their home health face-to-face encounters. Because it is the first time CMS has provided the healthcare industry templates for a progress note, it is soliciting comments on the templates. Those interested in the home health face-to-face proposed templates may participate in Special Open Door Forums occurring in March, April and May 2015. Should the templates be adopted, their use will be voluntary. CMS’s proposal for the templates comes at a time when HHAs are revising their policies and protocols for face-to-face encounter documentation in light of the elimination of the physician brief narrative requirement in most cases effective January 1, 2015.

HHAs should be aware of the imminent nationwide SMRC audit. It is important that HHAs develop an effective compliance program that provides proactive measures to educate staff and certifying physicians on documentation requirements and prepare for an audit. If you have any questions regarding CMS’s impending audit or need assistance in creating a compliance plan to meet the home health face-to-face encounter documentation requirements, please contact an experienced healthcare attorney via email at wapc@wachler.com or 248-544-0888.

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On February 2, 2015, the White House released President Obama’s budget report for fiscal year 2016. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to healthcare issues. The report proposes several reforms to the Medicare program and purports a projected savings of $407.2 billion in the next 10 years. Additionally, the report includes a $403 million multi-year investment towards preventing, detecting, and prosecuting healthcare fraud and abuse. Moreover, the 2016 budget provides for a $201 million investment to continue to fund the full Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control discretionary cap adjustment, increase funding to recovery auditors to take on more corrective actions, and provide more funds to the Medicaid Integrity Program. The President’s budget states an intention to increase such funding to $4.6 billion over the next 10 years.

The budget brief published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), proposes numerous measures in an attempt to curb the Medicare appeals backlog. Suggestions made by the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (“OMHA”) are summarized as follows:

  • Invest new resources at all levels of appeal to increase adjudication capacity and implement new strategies to alleviate the current backlog;
  • Take administrative actions to reduce the number of pending appeals and prevent new cases from entering the system; and
  • Propose legislative reforms that provide additional funding and new authorities to increase efficiency and address the volume of incoming appeals.

The investment increases suggested by OMHA are part of its requested budget of $140 million, a $53 million increase from fiscal year 2015. Aside from bolstered investment, OMHA also proposed several reforms that would impact the Medicare audit process. One such proposal is the implementation of a per-claim filing fee charged to providers at each level of the Medicare appeals process. The proposal allows for a refunding of the fee, but only in such instances where appellants receive a fully favorable appeal decision. OMHA projects that these filing fees will amount to $5 million, which will in turn fund 119 ALJ teams. The increase in ALJ teams is intended to decrease the backlog by improving efficiency and responsiveness.

OMHA also proposed the authorization of sampling and extrapolation techniques throughout the appeals process. This proposal would allow providers to consolidate all of their appeals into a single administrative appeal at all levels of the appeals process. If enacted, the proposal would require parties who are appealing claims included within an extrapolated overpayment, or consolidated previously, to file one appeal request for any such claims in dispute.

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On January 29, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that it will consider shortening the meaningful use reporting period for electronic health record (“EHR”) systems. Specifically, CMS stated that it intends to reduce the 2015 reporting period from 12 months to 90 days. Under the meaningful use incentive program, providers have faced the risk of a Medicare penalty if they failed to satisfy the program’s requirements. A shortened reporting period of 90 days may increase compliance with Stage 2 of the program and reduce the reporting burden on providers. Additionally, providers can schedule their reporting period for the second half of 2015, providing additional time for providers to implement the EHR systems at Stage 2.

In a statement following CMS’s announcement, the President of the American Medical Association (“AMA”), Steven J. Stack, MD, expressed the organization’s support of the proposed shortening of the reporting period. However, Stack criticized the incentive program, stating that “EHRs are intended to help physicians improve care for their patients, but unfortunately, today’s EHR certification standards and the stringent requirements of the meaningful-use program do not support that goal and decrease efficiency.”

In its announcement, CMS also stated its intent to align the meaningful use reporting periods to the calendar year in an effort to give hospitals more time to integrate the 2014 Edition software and better coordinate with CMS quality programs. Although the proposed changes to the reporting period will not delay CMS’s rollout of the forthcoming Stage 3 proposed rule, expected in March, CMS plans to limit the scope of the Stage 3 proposed rule to the criteria and requirements for meaningful use in 2017 and subsequent years.

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The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 extended the process for exceptions to Medicare’s outpatient therapy caps through March 2015. Exceptions to Medicare’s outpatient therapy caps are allowed for medically necessary and reasonably therapy services. However, claims above $3,700 for physical therapy and speech language pathology services combined, and above $3,700 for occupational therapy services, are subject to manual medical review by recovery audit contractors (RACs). The caps are calculated per beneficiary, per year. While manual medical reviews of outpatient therapy claims above the cap were put on hold last year, existing RACs received approval on January 16, 2015 to resume sending additional documentation requests (ADRs) to Part B providers.

However, CMS recently introduced a new post-payment review system that requires RACs to review outpatient therapy claims using a new manual medical review process. RACs will now be required to review claims using a tiered approach to ADRs. The process allows for 100% review of provider claims above the $3,700 therapy caps (“eligible claims”), but prevents the RACs from requesting large and potentially unmanageable amounts of records at one time.

Beginning in January 2015, the new manual medical review process permits RACs to review 100% of a provider’s eligible claims using a 5-step approach to ADRs. A RAC’s first ADR may only review one claim, but additional ADRs may request records for an increasing percentage of claims. The second ADR may review up to 10% of eligible claims, the third ADR may review up to 25% of eligible claims, and the fourth ADR may review up to 50% of eligible claims. Finally, a RAC’s fifth ADR to a particular provider may review 100% of the provider’s total eligible claims. Please note that the new tiered approach retains the RAC’s cycle of 45 days between ADRs.

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On January 9, 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice, along with several state Medicaid programs, announced that Daiichi Sankyo Inc. (“Daiichi”), a U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese pharmaceutical company, agreed to pay $39 million to settle alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act (“FCA”).

In March 2010, a qui tam lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The allegation contained in the lawsuit related to speaker programs that Daiichi hosted between January 2004 and March 2011. The qui tam plaintiff, a former Daiichi sales representative, asserted that Daiichi inappropriately compensated physicians that participated in the speaker programs. The six primary allegations included:

  • The program honoraria recipient only spoke to member of his or her own staff in his or her own office;
  • Physicians took turns accepting speaker honoraria for duplicative discussions;
  • The audience include the honoraria’s spouse;
  • The honoraria recipient did not speak at all because the event was previously canceled;
  • The program dinners exceeded Daiichi’s internal cost limitation of $140 per person; and
  • Drugs that were promoted at the programs (Azor, Benicar, Tribenzor, and Welchol) were used for off-label purposes.

The Government contended that the meals, honoraria, and other remuneration paid to participating physicians amounted to illegal kickbacks that ultimately induced the physicians to prescribe the drugs for off-label use. Furthermore, this resulted in pharmacies unknowingly submitting false prescription drug claims because prescriptions for off-label uses are typically not eligible for reimbursement.

In addition to paying $39 million, Diiachi agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement that obligates it to implement dramatic internal reforms over the next five years. Specifically, the corporate integrity agreement mandates that Diiachi enact compliance programs to prevent similar improper practices from reoccurring. For the qui tam plaintiff’s services, the former employee will receive $6.1 million of the Government’s recovery.

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On January 26, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), for the first time ever, announced a timeline and corresponding goals to shift the basis of Medicare reimbursement away from the quantity of care provided towards the quality furnished to beneficiaries. With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) in 2010, Congress created several new payment models, including Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”), primary care medical homes, and new models of payment bundling for care. These models all share the commonality that they incentivize physicians to coordinate care for their beneficiaries, maintain quality, and control costs. With the proliferation of these models that focus on quality over quantity, HHS was compelled to reform the Medicare reimbursement process.

Specifically, HHS announced its goal of tying 30 percent of fee-for-service Medicare payments to quality output through alternative payment models, like ACOs or bundled payment arrangements, by the end of 2016. Furthermore, HHS plans on increasing that amount to 50 percent by the end of 2018. If this goal is met, half of all payments to physicians and hospitals will be made through alternative payment models by 2018. Additionally, HHS set a timeline for tying 85 percent of fee-for-service, or traditional, Medicare payments to quality output by 2016 through the Hospital Value Based Purchasing and Hospital Readmissions Reduction Programs. This number is also set to increase to 90% by 2018.

To accomplish this, HHS has created the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (“the Network”). The Network is an organization made up of health care stakeholders including private payers, consumers, providers, employers, and state Medicaid programs. The Network, which will hold its first meeting in March 2015, plans to expand alternative payment models nationwide into all areas of health care. HHS hopes that the intensity exhibited by the Network will even surpass its initial goals for program expansion.

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On December 30, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that they had awarded the Region 5 Recovery Audit Contract (RAC) to Connolly, LLC. CMS contracts with RACs to identify and correct improper payments. Connolly, which has been the RAC for Region C, was awarded the Region 5 contract which covers claims for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS), home healthcare and hospice providers. With the awarding of the new RAC contract focused on DME, home health and hospice providers, these provider types can expect increased scrutiny of their Medicare claims.

CMS also outlined a number of “improvements” to the RAC program that will take effect with each new RAC contract awarded, beginning with the Region 5 contract awarded on December 30, 2014.

One of the “improvements” brought by the new RAC program is that the CMS has reduced the RAC look-back period to 6 months from the date of service for patient status reviews where hospitals submitted the claim within 3 months of the date of service. Previously, the look-back period for RACs was from 3 years and hospitals had to submit a claim within one year from the date of service in order to comply with the timely filing rules, leaving hospitals with the inability to rebill denials from patient status reviews. Another improvement is that the CMS has established new Additional Documentation Request (ADR) limits based on a provider’s compliance with Medicare rules. Specifically, the ADR limits will align with providers’ denial rates (i.e., providers with low denial rates will have lower ADR limits), and ADR limits will be adjusted as a providers’ denial rates decrease.

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In November 2014, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives circulated a “discussion draft,” which proposed significant reforms to the process by which Medicare reimburses hospitals for short stays. Perhaps most notably, the GOP proposal would eliminate the two-midnight rule. Since its enactment, the two-midnight rule has remained controversial among healthcare providers. Under the two-midnight rule, an admission is appropriate only when the patient remains in the hospital for two midnights. However, since its adoption, the rule has created confusion and elicited criticism from providers who claim that it undermines their clinical decision-making process. Acknowledging the issue, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) limited enforcement of the two-midnight rule and solicited stakeholders for suggestions on improving it.

The discussion draft also proposes the establishment of a new Medicare payment system for hospital stays. Under the proposal, the payment system would go into effect in fiscal year 2020 and unify the currently separate inpatient and outpatient payment systems. During the five years before the implementation, CMS would be tasked with developing a transitional, per-diem payment system for short-term hospital stays. Additionally, CMS would restrain Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) until the new payment system is adopted. This reprieve is important when establishing a new payment system because of the RAC program’s onerous presence in the healthcare industry. Just last year, the RAC program recouped over $3 billion in Medicare overpayments, and audit appeals have created such a backlog that many appellants are waiting over three years for a decision. The backlog of appeals violates the statutory requirement for Administrative Law Judges to decide Medicare appeals within 90 days of the request for hearing.

Also included in the GOP’s discussion draft is a partial elimination of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) moratorium on the expansion of physician-owned hospitals. Currently, the law prohibits new physician-owned hospitals, expansion of existing physician-owned hospitals, and an increase in the percentage of physician ownership in existing physician-owned hospitals. Any reduction of the physician-owned hospital limitation would be welcomed news in the physician community. Further, in an effort to curb costs, the proposal also includes provisions that would promulgate a nationwide bundled payment program. Upon analyzing these proposals, many stakeholders believe that the circulation of the discussion draft indicates the direction of the anticipated Medicare debate in Congress and expect several of these provisions to be at the forefront of discussions in the next congressional session.

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On December 3, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a final rule that broadens its authority to deny providers or suppliers from enrolling in Medicare and revoke providers already participating. The final rule, which is scheduled to go into effect on February 3, 2015, permits CMS to deny or revoke enrollment of providers with abusive billing patterns or practices, deny enrollment of providers affiliated with unpaid Medicare debt and deny or revoke enrollment of providers if a managing employee has been convicted of certain felonies.

CMS plans to identify improper billing by analyzing several factors such as:

  • The percentage of denied claims;
  • The reason for the denials; and
  • The length of any billing irregularities.

Providers and suppliers affiliated with entities with unpaid Medicare debt may prevent the enrollment denial or revocation if they agree to a structured repayment plan or pay the debt in full. The purpose of this provision is to prevent entities from incurring substantial Medicare debt, exiting the program and then re-enrolling as a new entity. Currently, CMS can only deny enrollment to those who have overpayments. The final rule explicitly expands this power to include Medicare debt, which includes overpayments as well as other financial obligations.

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On December 1, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) launched a three-year pilot program (“the program”) in an effort to curb improper Medicare payments to ambulances providers. Under the program, CMS requires prior authorization for repetitive, scheduled, non-emergent ambulance transport claims billed using the following HCPCS codes: (1) A0425 – BLS/ALS mileage, per mile; (2) A0426 – Ambulance service, Advanced Life Support (ALS), non-emergency transport, Level 1; and (3) A0428 – Ambulance service, Basic Life Support (BLS), non-emergency transport. CMS defines a “repetitive ambulance service” as medically necessary ambulance transportation services that are furnished three or more times in a ten-day period, or at least once per week for at least three weeks. According to CMS, these services are often used by elderly beneficiaries that require transportation for dialysis, cancer, or wound treatment.

The prior authorization the process requires the ambulance provider to request provisional affirmation of coverage by CMS before a service is rendered to a beneficiary and before a claim is submitted for payment. CMS believes that prior authorization will ensure that the ambulance service is medically necessary and meets the applicable Medicare coverage criteria. According to CMS, the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) will make every effort to review the prior authorization request and postmark decisions letters win ten business days. Each prior authorization decision may affirm up to 40 round trips per request in a 60-day period. The prior authorization request submitted by an ambulance provider must include:

  • The beneficiary’s name, Medicare number, and date of birth;
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