HCCA Study Finds RAC Audits Come Under Compliance

Compliance Budgets Unchanged

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A survey conducted by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) found that two-thirds of health care organizations place the responsibility of Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) audits in the Compliance Department. This survey, which took place in the last quarter of 2011, was conducted to determine how health care providers are responding to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) RAC audits.

In addition, the survey found that the RAC audits require the time of one full-time employee to manage the audits and, in some cases, two full-time employees. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents from organizations with 250 employees or less commit one employee to RAC audits and 56% respondents from organizations of 1,000-5,000 employees reported the same. Among health care organizations with 5,000 or more employees, the majority (64%) report three or fewer employees were dedicated to the RAC audits.  

For other government initiatives the survey found that staffing levels were similar. Fifty-six percent of respondents reported having one full-time employee to work on other initiatives such as MIC, ZPIC, CERT, POR, and ADR responses.

The government initiatives appear to have had no or little effect on compliance department budgets. Half of the respondents reported no increase in their compliance department budget, while 5% reported budgets had decreased slightly. Just 10% reported a significant increase.

The survey found that 60% of respondents from the largest health care companies use external consultants during the RAC appeals process compared to 77% of organizations with 250 or fewer employees never used an external consultant for RAC appeals.

To review the survey report click on the provided below: http://www.hcca-info.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Surveys&Template=/surveyform.cfm&survey=2011RACAudit

About the HCCA

The Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), established in 1996 and headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, is a non-profit professional membership organization made up of compliance and ethics professionals working in the health care industry. Its mission: HCCA exists to champion ethical practice and compliance standards and to provide the necessary resources for ethics and compliance professionals and others who share these principles. The HCCA and its affiliated Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics have over 10,000 members. Visit HCCA's Web site at www.hcca-info.org. Tel: 888/580-8373. 

SOURCE Health Care Compliance Association