Recovery Auditor Improper Payments Ratchet Up

James Carroll, for HealthLeaders Media, October 3, 2012

The correction amounts for each quarter of the program are as follows:

• October 2009 – September 2010: $92.3 million
• October 2010 – December 2010: $94.3 million
• January 2011 – March 2011: $208.9 million
• March 2011– June 2011: $289.3 million
• July 2011 – September 2011: $353.7 million
• October 2011 – December 2011: $422.7 million
• January 2012 – March 2012: $649.9 million
• April 2012 – June 2012: $701.3 million

Accompanying the CMS release was a report that detailed the amount of improper payments collected in each individual Recovery Auditor region. Region C, Connolly Healthcare, corrected the most, in dollars, from previous quarter, having identified a total of $229.1 million in improper payments. The figures for all four Recovery Auditors are as follows (figures provided in millions):

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Viewing these statistics through another lens, however, illustrates that the Recovery Auditor program has been very good to the Recovery Auditors, says Stacey Levitt RN, MSN, CPC, senior administrative director of patient care management at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.