Wyden and Burr spotlight GAO work on Medicare Audit and Appeals procedure

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), rating Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Finance Committee member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) today highlighted a brand new file from the government accountability workplace (GAO) detailing inefficiencies with the Medicare Audit and Appeals procedure and stated a bipartisan Finance Committee bill aimed to reform the manner.  The record info a dramatic increase in appeals at the centers for Medicare & Medicaid offerings (CMS), ensuing in a backlog on the third and fourth tiers of appeals in which unbiased hearings are performed. A bipartisan bill suggested out by way of the Finance Committee, the Audit & appeal equity, Integrity, and Reforms in Medicare (AFIRM) Act of 2015, S. 2368, if enacted into law, might improve many of the deficiencies highlighted by GAO.

“Reforming the Medicare audit and appeals device with clever modifications will provide better provider for sufferers and responsible safety for health vendors,” Hatch said. “today’s non-partisan file on the appeals procedure lists some of troubles with the cutting-edge system and underscores the want to reduce the purple tape ensnarling the method. happily, the Finance Committee has a bipartisan product in region that does simply that.  If enacted into law, the AFIRM Act could make wished reforms to the Medicare appeals system and convey multiplied transparency to the Medicare audit technique.  That’s a win for taxpayers, patients and fitness providers.”

“The voices of too many patients, companies, and states are going unheard because the gears of the Medicare audit and appeals device have floor to a halt,” Wyden said. “today’s information is a clean reminder of the continuing dysfunction plaguing the appeals method, which comes on the price of those caught inside the machine. It’s high time Congress give up this bureaucratic water torture via passing the Finance Committee’s bipartisan reform invoice.”

“Medicare’s audit and appeals methods are genuinely now not working,” said Senator Burr. “GAO’s document echoes concerns raised via North Carolinians and is the today's wake-up call for the want for common sense reforms.