Improper Medicare Payments
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Durable medical equipment suppliers were responsible for $1.6 bil. of the total of $5.5 bil. in documentation errors for FY 1999, according to the Office of the Inspector General's annual report on the amount of improper Medicare fee-for-service payments. Estimated improper payments for FY1999 totaled $13.5 bil. Other major categories of errors included lack of medical necessity, incorrect coding, and non-covered services