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Congressional Budget Office Warns Congress of $2 Billion Impact of Extending RAC Program Moratorium
[December 12, 2013]

Congressional Budget Office Warns Congress of $2 Billion Impact of Extending RAC Program Moratorium


WASHINGTON --(Business Wire)--

The American Coalition for Healthcare Claims Integrity (ACHCI) today issued the following statement regarding the decision by House lawmakers to refrain from extending the moratorium on the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would cost over $2 billion. Based on the CBO's feedback, lawmakers removed a proposal from the Sustainable Growth Rate patch amendment of th budget deal that would halt RAC reviews through October 2014. RACs will resume reviews of all claims April 1, 2014.



"We commend the Congressional Budget Office and members of Congress for recognizing the value of the Recovery Audit Contractor Program. Recovery Auditors return more than $1 billion in misused Medicare funds to our healthcare system every quarter. In addition, the RAC program has the highest return on investment of any integrity effort in the Medicare program. The decision by lawmakers to protect the RAC program from further changes will help reduce errors, healthcare waste, and return critical resources to the Medicare Trust Fund," said coalition spokesperson Kristin Walter.

"Improving the integrity of our healthcare system is essential to managing the national budget. Our coalition welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback, advice or consultation to program administrators or legislators about how to enhance program efficiency and effectiveness, and to better serve providers and beneficiaries."


For more information, please visit: www.properpayments.com.


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