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Medical Coding Billing & Compliance News

compiled by Team eduTrax

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$677 Million Damages Awarded for Lack of Nursing Coverage
Written by Team eduTrax   
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00

Largest Ever Jury-granted Award for Damages in America

A jury returned a $677 million judgment against Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. in a more than four-year-old class action lawsuit alleging that the company violated state mandated nursing coverage requirements in 22 of its nursing facilities over a six-year period, on Tuesday, July 6, 2010. At issue was a California statute that mandates 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 September 2010 18:27
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Connolly Begins RAC Reviews of Medical Necessity
Written by Team eduTrax   
Monday, 30 August 2010 00:00

Same 29 MSDRGs Approved for CGI, HDI

Connolly Healthcare posted approvals today for the review of medical necessity for the same 29 MSDRGs already posted earlier this month by two other Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs), as reported here previously, on August 13. Unlike the other two RACs, however, Connolly has chosen to post these approvals as “new” issues, separate and apart from previous postings of some of the same MSDRGs already approved for DRG Validation, with medical necessity excluded.

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OIG Reports 90% Error Rate in Physician Place of Service Coding
Written by AIS Health.com   
Thursday, 26 August 2010 00:00

Report encourages CMS to Pursue Widespread Recovery

Medicare contractors overpaid physicians an estimated $13.8 million for claims with the incorrect place-of-service code during calendar year 2007, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) says in an audit report (A-01-09-00503) posted Aug. 13, 2010.

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Region D RAC Approved for Medical Necessity Reviews
Written by Team eduTrax   
Monday, 23 August 2010 00:00

HDI Posts No New Issues, 29 DRGs Now Approved Medical Necessity Reviews

Health Data Insights (HDI), the CMS Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) contracted for reviews of Medicare claims in 17 western states, posted approvals for the review of both medical necessity and DRG Validation for previously approved and listed issues including 29 DRGs, effective August 16, 2010. HDI is now approved to review medical necessity for the same DRGs recently approved by CMS for CGI, the RAC for Region B. No new issues were posted by HDI, since all the DRGs involved were already approved for DRG Validation previously.

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RAC Medical Necessity Reviews Begin with 29 DRGs
Written by Team eduTrax   
Friday, 13 August 2010 00:00

CGI Posts 9 New DRGs plus 20 Previously Only Approved for DRG Validation

CGI Federal, the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) for CMS Region B, posted seven new issues on August 12, 2010, including their first nine (9) DRGs approved for review of Medical Necessity and DRG Validation. The RAC also added another 20 DRGs as approved for review of Medical Necessity. These 20, however, were buried within the web pages and were not listed as new issues. Instead, the "Issue Name" fields on the CGI Approved Issues pages were simply changed to note which DRGs were or were not yet approved for Medical Necessity. eduTrax will release

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