CMS to speed up, beef up Medicare Advantage audits

Bob Herman covers medical insurance, authorities applications, hospitals, physicians, and different suppliers — reporting on how cash influences these companies and shapes what all of us pay for care. He’s additionally the creator of the Well being Care Inc. e-newsletter. You’ll be able to attain Bob on Sign at bobjherman.09.

President Trump’s federal Medicare company will expedite audits of Medicare Benefit insurers, a transfer that might claw again almost $500 million a 12 months for taxpayers, based on earlier federal estimates.

Nonetheless, the audits stay mired in a two-year-old lawsuit initiated by Humana, making it unclear how the Trump administration will implement its new technique.

The Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers stated Wednesday it would rent nearly 2,000 further coders by this September and use “superior” expertise programs to comb by way of information and ensure diagnoses that Medicare Benefit insurers undergo the federal government are supported in sufferers’ medical information. The company didn’t say what sort of expertise it could use.