RAC Reform Legislation Now in Both Houses of Congress

The bipartisan love for Recovery Audit Contractor reform has spread to the Senate as two members on both sides of the aisle have filed a bill to match the one filed in the House of Representatives in March.

Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) have introduced a Senate version of the Medicare Audit Improvement Act (S. 1012), “a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve operations of recovery auditors under the Medicare integrity program, to increase transparency and accuracy in audits conducted by contractors,” according to the bill’s text.

The House version of the bill, also filed by members from both parties, was immediately endorsed by the the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Hospital Association (AHA). The AHA immediately gave a nod of approval to the Senate version.

“Hospitals are inundated with multiple auditing programs (Recovery Audit Contractors, Medicare Administrative Contractors and Comprehensive Error Rate Testing Contractors),” said AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack in a statement. “These duplicative audits, unmanageable medical record requests and inappropriate payment denials are overwhelming hospitals and diverting resources from patient care.”