A recent article in Politico highlights the issue of “overpayments to healthcare professionals through the meaningful use program,” as revealed by CMS in a letter in response to an inquiry from to the Senate Finance Committee.
The letter references an earlier HHS inspector general survey which found that 14 of 100 randomly sampled health professionals received $291,222 in incentives though failing to meet program requirements. Based on its random samples, CMS estimates $729 million in incentive overpayments.
In her letter, CMS Administrator Seema Verma reveals additional “overpayments” have been uncovered but indicated that CMS had recovered most of the funds while some providers have appealed recoupment determinations. Verma has outlined additional actions CMS has taken to reduce overpayments, including post-payment audits and negative payment adjustments.
NextGen Healthcare clients should be aware that the increased attention from HHS and congress to overpayments and Administrator Verma’s reference to additional actions points to increased scrutiny for providers who receiving EHR incentive payments. This translates into increased audit activity and increased diligence by auditors. We continue to urge clients to maintain documentation supporting all meaningful use/promoting interoperability and MIPS attestations.
In our May Health Reform Simplified webinar, the NextGen Healthcare regulatory team covered MU/PI audits. Click here to view the recording of this webinar, and watch What’s Next and Chatter on Success Community for information about upcoming deeper dives into MU/PI compliance and audit readiness