As a result of AHA lawsuit, HHS continues to reduce appeals backlog

In response to a 2018 federal court ruling in favor of the AHA and its member hospital plaintiffs, the Department of Health and Human Services by Dec. 31 had reduced almost 88% its backlog of Medicare appeals at the Administrative Law Judge level, according to a status report the agency provided yesterday to a federal court.

At the end of first-quarter fiscal year 2022 Dec. 31, a total of 52,641 appeals remained pending at the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, almost 88% fewer than the 426,594 appeals identified in the 2018 court order, which established annual deadline-based targets for reducing the backlog of Medicare appeals at the ALJ level, HHS told the court.