OIG: Medicare paid $112 million for improper wheelchairs claims
Compliance Monitor, January 6, 2010
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A recent OIG review of claims submitted to Medicare for wheelchairs revealed that three out of five claims did not meet documentation requirements and resulted in $112 million in improper payments.
The OIG reviewed 375 randomly selected claims for standard and complex rehabilitation power wheelchairs supplied to Medicare beneficiaries in the first half of 2007.
The most common documentation errors included submitting claims for which the supporting documentation and detailed product descriptions were not submitted or were incomplete (40% error rate).
Based on its findings, OIG recommended that CMS:
- Conduct additional reviews of standard and complex rehabilitation power wheelchair claims
- Recover overpayments and consider further actions against suppliers that do not meet documentation requirements
- Increase education for suppliers and prescribing physicians about documentation requirements
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