RAC Update from the American Hospital Association
The American Hospital Association released a helpful Recovery Audit Contractor Program Update dated October 5, 2009. There is a password required.
The report is also available on the Ohio Hospital Asssociation website as well.
A few highlights:
- To date, CMS has approved only automated audits, which rely on software analysis to find technical errors such as coding errors.
- CMS has delayed approval of complex audits, including medical necessity reviews, in order to finalize processes and policies related to requesting and auditing medical records.
- DRG and coding validations are likely to begin in November 2009 at the earliest, with medical necessity reviews delayed until 2010.AHA has made available to all hospitals a free claim-level Excel tool to assist in tracking RAC audits.
