CMS reports lower error rate for 2008

Apparently, having Recovery Audit Contractors in the news frequently has pushed some providers to change their coding practices. CMS has reported that the 2008 error rate for fee-for-service payments has decreased to 3.6 percent. Last year, improper payments for fee-for-service amounted to 3.9 percent of the total payments.

The CMS estimates that it has saved as much as $400 million over the last fiscal year. The agency also reported for the first time the improper payment rate of Medicare Advantage; in 2006, it reported the improper payments amounted to 10.6 percent, or $6.8 billion. The CMS also made clear that most of these errors are from incorrectly coded or medically unnecessary claims, not actual fraud.

To learn more about the figures CMS released:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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