Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Subscribe to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

As a result of a new rule published on February 1, 2023, at 88 Fed. Reg. 6643, Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations soon will be facing enhanced exposure from Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) audits. Under the new rule, effective for audits of payment years 2018 and after, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will use extrapolation to calculate MA organizations’ repayment obligations based on RADV audit findings. While CMS did not adopt any specific extrapolation methodology and plans to use methodologies appropriate to the specific audit, it will be focused on contracts identified as being high-risk for improper payments using statistical modeling, data analytics, or both. CMS does commit to disclosing the extrapolation methodology used in connection with any particular audit so that MA organizations will know how their repayment obligation was calculated. Notwithstanding its prior proposal to do so (https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/recovery-audit-program-parts-c-and-d/Other-Content-Types/RADV-Docs/RADV-Methodology.pdf), CMS did not adopt a Fee-For-Service Adjuster in RADV Audits.  Relying on a recent D.C. Circuit decision, CMS takes the position that the obligation to report and return overpayments is not subject to the “actuarial equivalence” provision of the statute (42 U.S.C. § 1395w-23(a)(1)(C)) that applies to the risk adjustment payment methodology. UnitedHealthcare Ins. Co. v. Becerra, 16 F.4th 867, 885-86 (D.C. Cir. 2021), cert denied, 142 S. Ct. 2851 (2022).…

Continue Reading CMS Issues Final Rule Authorizing Extrapolation as Part of RADV Audits

On August 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a final rule that allows individuals to purchase short-term limited-duration health plans. Under the rule, short-term health plans can span an initial period of less than 12 months, with renewals and extensions capped at 36 months. Under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), lower-grade…

Touted as a major step in its efforts toward Medicare modernization, CMS issued a proposed Physician Fee Schedule rule on July 12, 2018 that would, in part, gut the current five-tier structure for Evaluation and Management (“E/M”) codes and collapse levels 2 through 5 down to one payment rate. The proposed payment overhaul, coupled with changes in the documentation required to support certain claims for reimbursement, is geared toward simplifying the Medicare billing rules and reducing the administrative burden for physicians so that they can focus on patient care.

E/M services comprise about 40% of the charges approved by Medicare under the physician fee schedule, with office visits representing half of that amount. Currently, documentation for these visits must comply with rigorous Documentation Guidelines that require a record of all clinically relevant information, as well as justification for medical necessity and appropriateness. There are five visit levels in each new patient and established patient E/M code family, and documentation must justify the code level being billed. Each visit level is tied to a different reimbursement rate reflecting different levels of service complexity and time spent.

The proposed rule would retain the existing CPT coding structure, but provide for a single, blended reimbursement rate for both new and established patients for outpatient E/M level 2 through 5 office visits. Add-on codes will be available to reflect additional resources involved in providing complex primary care and non-procedural services. The documentation standards for more complex office visits would be reduced to the amount required for a level 2 visit. While many providers would continue to document justification for higher levels of care, in part because of non-Medicare payers, CMS asserts that the change would provide immediate relief from the need to “audit against the visit levels.” The single work RVU for the collapsed office visit category would fall somewhere between the current level 2 and level 5 amounts. The following example is provided in the proposed rule:

Preliminary Comparison of Payment Rates for Office Visits, New Patients

HCPCS Code CY 2018 Non-facility
Payment Rate		 CY 2018 Non-facility
Payment Rate under the
proposed methodology
99201 $45 $44
99202 $76 $135
99203 $110
99204 $167
99205 $211

…
Continue Reading Proposed Medicare E/M Payment Overhaul Draws Mixed Reviews

About the Health Law Insider Blog

Learn More

The Health Law Insider blog provides insights about health care-related laws and regulations from Stoel Rives’ dedicated team of health care lawyers and industry experts. This blog covers the full spectrum of regulatory and compliance issues faced by the health care industry, including data privacy and security, fraud and abuse, reimbursement, health care transactions, antitrust, taxation, and insurance regulation.