MEDICARE: Using Education and Claims Scrutiny to Minimize Physician Billing Errors
Abstract
The discussion of the challenges physicians and the Medicare program face in ensuring that claims for physician services are billed and paid appropriately. The General Accounting Office, an agency within the legislative branch that monitors the effectiveness and efficiency of federal programs for the Congress, has conducted oversight of the Medicare program for many years. With annual fee-for-service payments now totaling about $192 billion, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency responsible for administering Medicare, has an important responsibility to safeguard payments for health services delivered to elderly and disabled individuals by hundreds of thousands of providers. In its most recent audit, covering fiscal year 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General found that $12.1 billion, or about 6.3 percent of fee-for-service payments, was improperly paid to Medicare providers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 28, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA401892
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office