Hospices leaders: ‘Vigilant’ compliance pivotal in MAC auditing climate

Hospices leaders: ‘Vigilant’ compliance pivotal in MAC auditing climate 
Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 11/18/24 
e auditing environment has heated up in the hospice industry, with inconsistencies reportedly proliferating among the various types of regulatory enforcement activity — particularly those performed by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs). The issue has some hospice providers delving deeper into a range of compliance strategies. ... Hospices in recent years have seen a plethora of auditing types picking up steam in frequency, including MACs, Targeted Probe and Education (TPE), Supplemental Medical Review Contractors (SMRC), Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPIC) and Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC). A main purpose of most audit types is to identify hospice providers with frequent errors on their billing claims or other activity that the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) considers to be unusual.