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SNEAK PEEK: MSP RACs claim $12.7 million

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, July 30, 2008

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They may not continue them in their nationwide rollout starting in 2010, but the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Audio Contractors (MSP RACs) took back $12.7 million in MSP overpayments in the three-state demonstration project that ended in March.

As a patient access manager, you need to be prepared now for the nationwide rollout of RACs. More than $1.03 billion in Medicare improper payments were collected – $980 million in Claim RACs, and $12.7 million in MSP RACs.

CMS decided to discontinue MSP RACs and include MSP issues in the jurisdiction of the other RAC contractors.

However, compliance with MSP requirements is more crucial now than ever. And that means better training and ensuring staff competency through testing before the RACs come to your hospital, patient access experts say.

“When it comes to filling out the Medicare Secondary Payer Questionnaire, it is critically important to make sure that you complete all the fields accurately and completely,” says Michael S. Friedberg, FACHE, CHAM, director of Patient Access Services at Apollo Health Street in Bloomfield, NJ. “Incorrect completion of the forms can result in Medicare's incorrect selection as primary payer. On audit this can subject your facility to a negative financial impact.”

For more on this issue, see Patient Access Resource Center’s lead story in its September newsletter.

To view a report from CMS on the RAC demonstration project, click here.

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