Carolinas Hospital in Florence, South Carolina, received $431,757 in Medicare overpayments for incorrectly billed inpatient and outpatient services based on a sample of claims, according to an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit report released November 26. The OIG estimates that, based on...Read More »
The American Hospital Association (AHA) and other hospital groups filed a lawsuit December 4 challenging CMS’ hospital price transparency final rule, Revenue Cycle Advisor reported. The final rule, released November 15 and effective January 1, 2021, expands on the price transparency...Read More »
Improper Medicare payments have fallen to their lowest level since 2010 due to “aggressive program integrity measures,” according to CMS. The Medicare FFS estimated improper payment rate dropped from 8.12% in FY 2018 to 7.25% in FY 2019. This marks the third consecutive year the Medicare FFS...Read More »
A recent coding productivity survey conducted by ACDIS’ parent company, HCPro, had some positive findings:
Under ICD-9, the average inpatient coding productivity was 3–3.5 records per hour; under ICD-10, the average inpatient coding productivity is 1–4 records per hour;
CMS’ recently released final rule on hospital price transparency which allows the agency to impose civil monetary penalties for those that fail to comply, HealthLeaders Media reported. Some proponents of the policy, however, worry these relatively minor fines may be an insufficient...Read More »
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that antibiotic-resistant (AR) bacteria and fungi cause more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths per year in the United States, HealthLeaders Media reported. In a 2013 report, the CDC found that at...Read More »
The declining rate of some hospital-acquired conditions was not because of the penalty-driven Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, according to a study recently published in Health Affairs.Read More »