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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Audit Alert:

Learn RAC Fast Facts Before Your Audit Comes

Published on Fri Aug 13, 2010

Establish contact person to track audit compliance.Maybe your lab hasn't faced an audit from a Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC), but if you provide services for Medicare beneficiaries, you should get ready. RACs Seek Improper PaymentsRACs can look at coding and other information on your past claims to make sure you're following CMS compliance rules for lab and pathology services. Know these quick facts about RACs to be better informed:RACs detect and correct past improper payments so CMS and can prevent such problems in the futureRACs are hired as contractors by the government, and they can collect "contingency fees," which means that they get a percentage of the amount that they recover from providers who were paid inappropriatelyThe maximum RAC lookback period is three years, and they cannot review claims paid prior to Oct. 1, 2007 Between 2005 and 2008, RACs involved in the original demonstration project recovered over $1.03 billion [...]
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