The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) relased their June report to Congress last week. Of note to the rehab and therapy community is Chapter Eight: “Addressing the Growth of Ancillary Services in Physician Offices.” The chapter on ancillary services addresses outpatient therapy including physical, occupational and speech therapies. Of note is the discussion regarding the growth [...]
Lewis Morris, the Chief Counsel to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of HHS provided testimony this morning before the subcommittes on Health & Oversight of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. The text of Mr. Morris’s message provides insight into successful fraud and abuse intitatives by the OIG as well as the success [...]
In a recent RACMonitor.com article on The Curious Case of the CORF the CORF was described as an “orphan” program that had conflicting regulatory advice for providers in recent years. The Conditions of Participation, the State Operations Manual Interpretive Guidelines, and various instructions from the Medicare Contractors (fiscal intermediaries and MACs) put the provider at [...]
CMS has updated the “Rehabilitation Therapy Information” Fact Sheet and it is now available for downloading at the CMS website. The 4 page flyer inlcudes highlights over therapy changes over the past year including the therapy cap, DME Instructions, SLP in Private Practice, and Therapy Personnel Requirements. There are also links to rehab related Medicare [...]
CMS has recently announced a new round of RAC informational sessions for providers. The video features the slide show used in the original fall RAC informational sessions along with commentary by Commander Marie Casey. This video production is one of many that have been posted by CMS/HHS on YouTube. This video is being released as [...]
The Department of Health and Human Services announced today that it is expanding operation of its successful Medicare Strike Force to Tampa, Florida, Brooklyn, New York and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The announcement came simultaneously with announcemnt that Continuing Strike Force Operations has Lead to Indictment of 30 Individuals Charged in Miami, Detroit and Brooklyn with [...]