Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Find out which hidden costs you'll no longer need to worry about.

Starting this fall, there'll be a little less tit for tat from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - and a little more money in your pocketbook, according to a final rule published in the July 30 Federal Register.
     
The agency says the way it calculates and charges interest on Medicare overpayments and underpayments to providers, suppliers, health maintenance organizations, Medicare secondary payers and other entities will now "better reflect current business practices."
     
Under current rules, a physician who returned an overpayment on the 45th day, for example, would have to pay interest for two 30-day periods. The new rule no longer considers "partial periods" when calculating interest and would instead assess interest on full 30-day periods.
     
The final rule goes into effect on Oct. 1, 2004. To read it, go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a040730c.html.
     
Lesson Learned: New interest calculations mean that providers will get to keep more of their money.