The HHS Office of the Inspector General reported CMS is owed $543 million in Medicare overpayments from fiscal year 2010, but the agency is unlikely to receive much of the money due to insufficient accounting practices.
Out of 39 Medicare contractors, CMS had only kept detailed information on seven of them, totaling $69 million in overpayments, which CMS claimed was due to "contractor transitions," according to the OIG report. More than half of the overpayments made to those seven were missing provider type information from accounting records, and 97 percent of those overpayments were not recovered, which CMS and contractors claim is due in large part to difficulties with contact information on record for providers that were overpaid.
The OIG recommended CMS ensure that a provider type is included for every overpayment entered into the accounting ledger system, mail demand letters to contacts and addresses identified by the provider and use tax ID numbers and provider transaction access numbers along with national provider numbers to collect overpayments.
The OIG noted CMS agreed to the third recommendation and part of the first, but not the second.
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