Home Health & Hospice Week

Brush up on bundling to combat RAC pressure. Medicare's audit bounty hunters may not yet have specified home health agency or hospice topics for review, but that doesn't mean you have nothing to worry about from the new Recovery Audit Contractors. Some observers thought that RACs' permanent program reviews would stick to examining providers with big pockets -- hospitals and perhaps physicians. RACs have hit those providers hard, but the four national contractors have also gotten 24 durable medical equipment topics approved for review, too. The DME issues range from oxygen to wheelchairs to respiratory drugs. Audits can go as far back as 2007. (For a free detailed list of the DME topics approved for audits, e-mail editor Rebecca Johnson at rebeccaj@eliresearch.com with "RAC Topics" in the subject line.) RACs' willingness to target DME when the sector represents such a small piece of the larger Medicare pie may mean they're prepared [...]