Advanced Search

Podiatry Coding & Billing Alert

Medicare Errors:

Providers Underbilled More Than $1 Billion to Medicare in 2010

Published on Thu Jan 12, 2012

CERT results reveal $34.3 billion in improper Medicare payments -- $1.1 billion of which was underpaid.If your practice's collections rate was off by 10.5 percent, you'd be in big trouble, right? Well, that's the 2010 Medicare Fee-for-Service improper payment rate, and your MAC may come looking for money you still owe to them.CMS's new Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) results, which were released in November, show that practices actually made fewer errors in 2010 than in the previous year. Most of the errors were discovered as overpayments --meaning that CMS identified $33.2 billion that went out to Medicare providers in error, and chances are high that MACs will be asking for much of that money back, if they haven't already. In addition, CMS noted that it still owes $1.1 billion to providers who were underpaid in 2010.To create the CERT report, CMS reviewed 30,965 Part B claims, along with claims from [...]
You’ve reached your limit of free articles. Already a subscriber? Log in.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe today to continue reading this article. Plus, you’ll get:
  • Simple explanations of current healthcare regulations and payer programs
  • Real-world reporting scenarios solved by our expert coders
  • Industry news, such as MAC and RAC activities, the OIG Work Plan, and CERT reports
  • Instant access to every article ever published in your eNewsletter
  • 6 annual AAPC-approved CEUs*
  • The latest updates for CPT®, ICD-10-CM, HCPCS Level II, NCCI edits, modifiers, compliance, technology, practice management, and more
*CEUs available with select eNewsletters.

Other Articles in this issue of

Podiatry Coding & Billing Alert

View All