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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Compliance:

Use These 3 General Rules To Master The ABCs Of The MICs

Published on Mon Nov 09, 2009

Find out how these auditors work -- and the one way to get on equal footing. Rule No. 1 for dealing with the MICs (Medicaid Integrity Contractors): You can't count on them following the standardized rules and safeguards that rein in the RACs. MIC audits are conducted on a state-by-state basis, notes Steve Lokensgard, special counsel with the Minneapolis office of the law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP. And he cautions that unlike the RACs, the MIC program provides no national standards governing: • How far back the MIC auditors can go; • How many records the MICs can request from providers to produce in a certain time frame; and • What the appeal process will be. Instead, CMS says the standards will be based on state law, Lokensgard notes. All bets may be off: But don't expect MICs to always follow state requirements, according to a CMS Open Door Forum [...]
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