“The RAP on RAC” written by Benjamin Vaughan in Doctors RX, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring 2014)

An all-too-familiar story: A practice is handed a bill in the amount of four million dollars after an audit by a Medicare contractor alleging overpayments. The practice challenged the audit and proved that the contractor made a mistake interpreting medical coding. The good news? The four million was reduced to $2,810. The bad news? It took the practice two years to rectify the mistake at a cost of $350,000. What is going on here?