Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Published on Thu Jul 12, 2012 PDF

The Senior Medicare Patrol Project is stepping up its activity. In 2011, the 54 Senior Medicare Patrol Projects had 5,671 active volunteers, a 14 percent increase from 2010, the HHS Office of Inspector General says in a new report published on June 21. Volunteers conducted 66,303 one-on-one counseling sessions and 11,109 group education sessions. In 2011, 431,128 beneficiaries attended group education sessions, an increase from 298,097 in 2010.

Medicare funds recovered due to the projects were $19,283 in 2011. But don't let that number fool you, the OIG says. The projects saved another $248,000 in "cost avoidance." And the projects referred some "large-dollar cases," the OIG notes. Medicare is seeking to recover $2.9 million in one of them.

New York and California had the most Senior Medicare Patrol volunteers, while Kansas and Oklahoma had the fewest. The study is online at http://go.usa.gov/vda.