Reminder: HHS call June 29 on Medicare appeals process changes

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals will host a June 29 call on recent regulatory changes to the Medicare appeals process at the administrative law judge level. A final rule issued in January in some cases allows attorney adjudicators to hear appeals in lieu of administrative law judges and allows the HHS Departmental Appeals Board to designate certain decisions as precedential. To register for the 1 p.m. ET call, click here. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last month heard oral argument in the government’s appeal of a December 2016 court order obtained by the AHA and three hospitals, which required the Department of Health and Human Services to eliminate within four years the Medicare claims appeals backlog pending at the administrative law judge level.