The AHA next month plans to send hospital leaders across the country a "RACTrac" survey to learn more about their experience with the Medicare auditors. The Web-based survey will ask hospitals to submit quarterly information on the audits.

The AHA said the survey's findings will help it determine RAC claim denial rates and identify trends in the reasons for the denials, as well as provide up-to-date information on the status of Medicare appeals both nationally and for specific regions of the country. It also will help the association identify ways of improving the program in its advocacy before Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The association encourages hospital leaders to sign up for the nationwide survey and to tune into a March 25 AHA-hosted webinar about the survey, which starts at 2 p.m. EST. Hospitals can register for the event at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/860464817. For more information on the AHA's RAC advocacy and resources, visit www.aha.org/rac.

The RAC program is designed to reduce Medicare overpayments and underpayments, as well as find ways of eliminating future improper payments. Hospitals and other providers and coding experts are concerned that program contractors are motivated to find errors that may not even be errors because of the way they are rewarded by the government.

In other RAC news, CMS recently told the AHA that RACs are not authorized to review all inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) claims. Two RACs - Connolly Consulting and HealthDataInsights - recently began auditing acute-care inpatient hospital claims for two diagnosis-related groups (MS-DRGs 945 and 946) that are also used on all IRF claims, prompting concerns that RACs may have CMS authority to review all IRF claims without going through the agency's new issue approval process.

CMS confirmed on Feb. 26 that RACs may only review IRF claims that have gone through the new issue approval process. Any IRF that receives a RAC letter requesting additional documentation is not required to respond and should contact their CMS RAC project officer, the agency said. Some IRFs in Region C may have received the "Additional Documentation Request" letters in error, CMS said.