The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently published an answer list to a series of frequently asked questions about the Medicaid Recovery Audit Contractor program, according to an American Hospital Association report.
States are required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to contract with RACs to audit payments to Medicaid providers. The answer list from CMS provides operational guidance on the requirement as well as other general information about the Medicaid RAC program.
This response to the FAQs comes on the heels of the Jan. 1 implementation date, according to the final rule released by CMS last September. The final rule elicited concerned responses from AHA regarding several provisions, including “limiting Medicaid RACs to a three-year look-back period; prohibiting RACs from auditing claims that they or others have already audited; and requiring them to notify providers of overpayment findings within 60 days,” according to the AHA website.
