The HHS is planning changes to improve the Medicare appeals process, according to a Kaiser Health News report.
Here are four notes:
1. The proposed changes includes designating some Medicare Appeals Council decisions as precedents that lower-level decision-makers could follow and reducing the number of steps in the appeals process.
2. The HHS is also increasing funding to help improve the appeals process.
3. The agency currently has a backlog of more than 700,000 cases.
4. The proposed changes and increased funding could wipe out the backlog by 2021.