US Representatives David Rouzer, (R-NC), and Mark Meadows, (R-NC) have signed on as co-sponsors to HR2568, The Fair Medical Audits Act of 2015. This legislation originally was filed in June by Rep. George Holding (R-NC) and seeks to reform the RAC audit process – something the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) along with the Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI) has long been advocating for in Washington, D.C. Currently, we are working to get the entire North Carolina Congressional Delegation to become co-sponsors. As of today, there are 17 co-sponsors of the bill including the three representatives from North Carolina. Please encourage your representative to sign on.
“We are grateful to Rep. Rouzer and Rep. Meadows for their support of this important bill,” said NCMS CEO Robert W. Seligson. “We have been working for years to improve the flawed and unfair process that plagues the current Medicare audit program. This legislation will address the concerns of physicians in North Carolina and nationwide.”
The NCMS has been integrally involved in pushing for this legislation over the years, and looks forward to supporting its passage. To highlight the issue of fairness and transparency in the RAC audit process, the NCMS profiled one practice in New Bern that was devastated by the current system in a documentary titled “Guilty Until Proven Innocent: When Medicare Audits Cause Casualties.” Watch it now.
Currently, Medicare pays recovery audit contractors or “RACs” on a contingency basis to find overpayments to health care providers, providing these contractors with undue monetary incentives to audit doctors. This legislation would establish incentives for RACs to make more accurate audit findings and increase educational efforts to help physicians avoid common mistakes.
Watch future Bulletins for updates on the progress of this important legislation as well as a similar effort in the US Senate led by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).