The HHS Office of Inspector General released its work plan for the upcoming fiscal year, outlining what it will be monitoring more closely in the next year, according to a recent Anesthesia Business Consultants blog post.
Four areas the inspector general's office will be scrutinizing:
1. The billing of spine-related pain management procedures. Medicare has previously passed regulations to hinder reimbursements for anesthesia services in facet joint interventions and various chronic pain epidural injections.
2. Critical care. The 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule final rule altered how critical care cases will be documented, counted and submitted, and the office will be monitoring adherence to these changes.
3. Diagnosis documentation in Medicare Advantage cases. The office "estimates that 9.5 percent of payments to Medicare Advantage organizations are improper," according to the blog post.
4. Medicare Part B telehealth services. The increased use of virtual medical services has prompted the office to conduct a series of audits.