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2006 OIG Work Plan focuses heavily on Medicare Part D

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, November 22, 2005

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued its 2006 Work Plan, which details plans for monitoring Medicare Part D, the massive drug-benefit program.

The plan includes a number of outpatient issues, including: outpatient outlier and other charge-related concerns, outpatient department payments, unbundling of hospital outpatient services, and "inpatient only" services performed in an outpatient setting.

The plan also discusses several topics relating to Medicare physicians, including: billing service companies, wound care services, the ordering of physicians excluded from Medicare, and physical and occupational therapy services.

"It's what I would consider very consistent with past work plans," says Robert A. Wade, Esq., a partner with Baker & Daniels in South Bend, IN. "There are areas that continue to ebb and flow and change. Providers need to analyze the Work Plan annually. If they believe that there's any risk within their internal operations for an item on the Work Plan, then it's incumbent on them to review that area."

To view the 2006 Work Plan, click here.

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