The Alphabet Soup of Audits

What is an audit? Webster says: an audit is “a formal, often periodic examination and checking of accounts or financial records to verify their correctness.” When I owned my retail pharmacies, we were inspected once or twice annually and always received commendations for our operations. CMS and OIG have the responsibility of being sure that money is not being siphoned out of Medicare.

They have put into place some new requirements: ZPIC, RAC, CERT, MAC, PSC are all new audits. It appears that HME providers have a great deal of alphabet soup to digest. There should not be any problem for most providers other than the time required to answer these audits. My problem is if the OIG or CMS be able to discover who the providers are, or should I say felons, that are stealing from the system?

AAHomecare is leading the fight to be sure these audits are “FAIR.” From what I have read it appears that they go to every dealer with the attitude something being done incorrectly (note, I did not say dishonestly).

Add to the alphabet soup “ORG.” When I speak to providers and ask why they do not belong to AAHomecare or their state DME association I get a very weak answer. “We do not want to spend any additional hard earned dollars.” My answer is the few bucks they think they may be saving can cause them to lose their company. Now “ORG”- if you do not join AAHomecare “ORG” and your state “ORG”, you are making a very major mistake.

At the Medtrade in Las Vegas I spoke to about a dozen state association executives and to many of the AAHomecare team. I know what they accomplish! They work so hard to protect their members and our industry. When you give them your support the ROI you will receive is that your business will continue to flourish. The “ORGs” can do so much more with your support. Get on board now! They will support you, they will tone down the audits, they will find a solution to the competitive bid difficulties, and most important is that “ORG” will keep you solvent.