Finance Committee approves chairman's mark of audit and appeal bill

The Senate Finance Committee today approved by voice vote the Chairman’s Mark of the Audit & Appeal Fairness, Integrity, and Reforms in Medicare Act of 2015, a bipartisan bill to make changes to the Medicare audit and appeals process. The bill would make several changes to how Medicare contractors, including Recovery Audit Contractors, review providers’ Medicare claims, as well as changes to the appeals process intended, in part, to address the significant backlog in appeals at the administrative law judge level. Members can see the AHA Special Bulletin for a summary of the bill’s provisions. Next, the Chairman’s Mark will be turned into legislative language.