Understand new AHA RACTrac initiative
HIM Connection, May 12, 2009
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Q: I’ve heard that the American Hospital Association (AHA) will be tracking the effects of the national RAC rollout. Is this true?
A: Yes, the AHA plans to launch a Web-based survey as part of a larger RACTrac initiative this fall to track the effects of RACs on individual hospitals nationwide. The survey will require hospitals to report on a quarterly basis their RAC experience. RACTrac will collect the following data points:
- Number of claim denials and total dollars associated with over payments and underpayments
- Service areas where overpayments are being identified (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, rehab, etc.)
- Reasons for claim denials cited by the RACs
- Number of appeals filed and the dollars associated with those appeals
- Quantifying administrative burden and costs by hours of staff dedicated to managing the RAC process and dollars paid to consultants
AHA has also created a member advisory that explains the initiative and provides answers to frequently asked questions about how hospitals can participate in the survey.
In addition, AHA has provided a list of vendors that currently provide claim-level RAC audit solutions, meaning they have expressed an interested in making their applications compatible with the RACTrac initiative.
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