Medicare actuaries lower the boom on proposed 2010 IP payments

Sg2 (free registration required), May 7, 2009

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services unleashed its actuaries to determine whether hospitals received excess payments as a result of coding increased severity under the MS-DRGs that didn't reflect a real change in case mix. The actuaries have completed their analysis of FY 2008 claims and found that hospitals were overpaid 2.5%, or $2.2 billion, in that year alone. As a result, CMS is proposing "draconian" corrective action, says this analysis from Sg2.