CMS is increasing site visits to Medicare-enrolled providers as a way to cut back on healthcare fraud.
CMS has authority to perform onsite review of a provider or supplier to ensure they are in compliance with Medicare enrollment requirements, and the agency is increasing these site visits, wrote Shantanu Agrawal, CMS deputy administrator and director of the agency's Center for Program Integrity, in a Feb. 22 CMS blog posting.
Initially, the visits will target those providers and suppliers receiving high reimbursements by Medicare that are in geographic areas at a high risk for healthcare fraud, according to Mr. Argrawal.
When enrolling in Medicare, providers and suppliers are required to provide the address of the location from which they offer services. CMS also plans to monitor and identify potentially invalid address on a monthly basis and use enhanced address verification software to better detect invalid or vacant addresses.
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