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The Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor \(RAC\) program is authorized by Congress to identify improper Medicare payments - both overpayments and underpayments. RACs are paid on a contingency fee basis, receiving a percentage of the improper payments they identify and collect. RACs currently operate…
Physician fee schedule final rule also released
On September 5, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services \(CMS\) issued the ")Phase III") final rule, the last of its three-part set of rules implementing the 1995 expansion of the physician self-referral ban beyond clinical laboratory services to include 10 other ")designated health care…
On September 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services \(CMS\) released revised Critical Access Hospital \(CAH\) interpretive guidelines regarding rebuilding and relocating facilities, effective immediately.
Responding to public and congressional concerns about improper or undue influence that special interests and their hired lobbyists either appeared or were alleged to have had over high-ranking government officials, Congress in September adopted The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act.
The five-year anniversary of the Institute of Medicine \(IOM\)'s report To Err is Human is fast approaching. There was much media attention when IOM released this report on patient safety in 1999, with most of the headlines focusing on the nearly 98,000 people the report cited as having died…
Unions Push for Nurse Staffing Ratios, CNA/NNOC Set Sights on Texas
Health care – that helps employees stay well, recover and return to work after illness, and effectively manage chronic conditions – not only benefits individuals but also has a positive effect for employers and the economy as a whole.
On September 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services \(CMS\) publishedrevisions to the Medicare wage index occupational mix survey that covers the period from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.