CMS to detail hospital appeals settlement process in early November

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will post details on its new hospital appeals settlement process in early November, and answer questions about the process during a Nov. 16 call, the agency announced today. For more information and to register for the call, click here. CMS last month announced it will again allow eligible hospitals to settle inpatient status claims under appeal. The announcement came just days before the agency was scheduled to appear in federal court to explain, in a case brought by the AHA and three hospital organizations, why the court should not immediately compel the Department of Health and Human Services to meet its congressionally mandated deadlines for reviewing Medicare claims denials. Last week, AHA asked the court to require HHS to implement three “practicable solutions” to reduce the backlog of Medicare claims appeals at the administrative law judge level: offer reasonable settlements to hospitals and other Medicare providers; delay repayment of some disputed Medicare claims and toll the accrual of interest on those claims; and impose penalties on recovery audit contractors for poor performance.