Audit News Exacerbates Healthcare Crisis
March 24th, 2022 - Ronald Hirsch, MD, FACP, CHCQM, CHRI
No good news is not good news.
Last week brought some news that may have significant financial consequences for many providers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) program that funded care for uninsured patients with COVID-19 will run out of money and stop accepting claims on March 22.
While numbers are down substantially, COVID is not gone. As of March 15, there were over 20,000 people hospitalized nationwide, and cases of the new variant are rising. We can hope that hospital numbers continue to decline but should also hope that Congress adds more funds to the program, so providers do not have to start sending bills to patients without coverage. This fund also pays for vaccines, and if it is determined that more boosters are needed, the lack of funds is sure to have serious consequences.
Next, UnitedHealthcare (UHC) recently released a notice for gastroenterologists who are participating providers with Oxford New York. The subhead of the notice went on to state that “Oxford New York gastroenterologists are required to use Oxford participating anesthesiologists.”
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Read the entire article at RACmonitor by clicking here.
This article originally published on March 23, 2022 by RACmonitor.
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