Congress is considering two bills that could put curbs on the independent auditing contractors who try to find evidence of fraud and abuse in Medicare providers’ bills.
Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., introduced H.R. 1250, the Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2013 bill, in March.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., introduced a companion bill, S. 1012, in May.
The bill tells the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to put a limit on the number of times that Medicare administrative contractors can ask hospitals to justify their bills.