According to a new CMS report, fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare Recovery Auditors identified and corrected 1,532,249 claims for improper payments in FY 2013, representing $3.75 billion in improper payments. Of this amount, $3.65 billion was attributable to overpayments, compared to 102.4 million of the improper claims were underpayments that were repaid to providers and suppliers. According to CMS, after taking into consideration all fees, costs, and first level appeals (but not expenses related to third and fourth levels of appeal), the Medicare FFS Recovery Audit Program returned over $3.0 billion to the Medicare Trust Funds. With regard to provider type, inpatient hospital claims represented almost all overpayments (94%).
