CMS Transmittal Offers Safeguards to Prevent Improper Payments Identified in OIG Reports

By Staff | February 03, 2010

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued Transmittal 620 to address improper payments in areas discussed in four reports released by the Office of the Inspector General.

The reports identify areas in which the Medicare program is vulnerable to questionable claims. The reports are:

• Comparison of prices for negative pressure wound therapy pumps (pdf);
• Payments for ambulance transportation provided to beneficiaries in skilled nursing stays covered under Medicare Part A in calendar year 2006 (pdf);
• Inappropriate Medicare payments for pressure reducing support surfaces (pdf); and
• Medicare hospice care for beneficiaries in nursing facilities: Compliance with Medicare coverage requirements (pdf).

CMS advises contractors to use the reports to follow procedures already contained in the Medicare Program Integrity Manual concerning data analysis, contractor strategies and the progressive corrective action process.

Read CMS's Transmittal 620 (pdf).