Inspector: Medicare Delay Relief Not a Kickback

An agency that keeps tabs on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is offering some flexibility to doctors who are coping with the recent confusion over reimbursement rates.

The HHS Office of the Inspector General has put out a policy statement aimed at doctors, hospitals and other health care and health products providers who want to waive “retroactive beneficiary liability” for patients who receive care while the government is implementing retroactive increases in Medicare provider payment rates.

Technically, the increase in payment rates may mean the patients are supposed to pay higher cost-sharing amounts, according to officials in the HHS inspector general’s office.

Medicare provider rules normally require providers discourage patients from getting unnecessary care by imposing co-payment requirements, coinsurance requirements or other cost-sharing requirements.