6/12/2017

HHS/MEDICARE: “Medicare erroneously paid an estimated $729 million to doctors and other health professionals under a multibillion-dollar federal initiative designed to shift the health-care system from paper records to computer files, according to a new federal audit.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, which conducted the audit, said Medicare, over a three-year period, improperly paid health professionals who vouched they earned bonus payments under the initiative, but who either lacked required proof or failed to meet bonus criteria.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees Medicare, should review its incentive payments and recoup any money erroneously paid and do more to scrutinize spending under the incentive program, OIG auditors said in a report of its audit. The program was created by 2009 legislation to accelerate use of electronic health records.
CMS ‘conducted minimal documentation reviews,’ the report said, ‘leaving the EHR program vulnerable to abuse and misuse of federal funds.’ “

-Melanie Evans, “Medicare Erroneously Paid Millions in Electronic Records Push, Audit Finds,” The Wall Street Journal online, June 12, 2017 12:01am