AHA survey: Hospitals appealing nearly half of RAC claim denials

Hospitals continue to appeal Recovery Audit Contractor claim denials, according to the latest report from the AHA's quarterly RACTrac survey. Hospitals participating in the fourth quarter of 2014 survey report appealing 46% of all RAC claim denials, with a 69% overturn rate in the appeals process. In addition, more than half of all appealed claims are still sitting in the appeals process, and hospitals report that claims audited under the RAC prepayment demonstration have, on average, a greater dollar value than claims audited retrospectively. Hospital representatives are invited to attend a webinar tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET to review recent RAC policy developments and results from the survey, which helps hospitals monitor the impact of RACs and advocate for needed changes to the program. For more information, visit www.aha.org/rac.