WASHINGTON, D.C.- CMI, or the Council for Medicare Integrity announced an analysis of waste within the Medicare Fee-For-Service program.
Mississippi was racked third in the top 10 highest medicare wasters. It was preceded by D.C. and Arkansas. This means that for every person on Medicare $116.56 is being wasted.
“Medicare loses more money to waste than any other government program – $46 billion in FY2014 alone – and the billing error rate continues to be on the rise. This incredible loss of taxpayer dollars is one of the top reasons Medicare Trustees now say the program will be bankrupt within the next 15 years. Medicare auditing is more necessary than ever to ensure the program will be in place when we need it in the future. It’s time to stand up and ensure your Member of Congress supports the RAC program’s work to prevent the waste of your taxpayer dollars,” said Kristin Walter, spokesperson for the Council for Medicare Integrity.
The issue lies in the hands of billing and hospitals, it is an internal problem. The rankings are part of CMI’s latest trend report, States & Medicare Waste, which analyzes the over payment and underpayment data provided in the most recent CMS report, Recovery Auditing in Medicare For Fiscal Year 2014 to rank states based on Medicare waste per beneficiary.
“Each state must do their part to curb Medicare misbilling,” said Walter. “If all entities involved made eradicating waste a priority, we would not have to worry about losing Medicare altogether in 2030.”
