Though CMS officially terminated the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Medicare Secondary Payer program (MSP RACs) after the demonstration project in March, patient access managers cannot overlook MSP compliance when it comes to the permanent RAC program.

The MSP RACs netted the government $12.7 million in false claims, not enough to continue the MSP RACs but enough to weave it back into the overall permanent project. Tanja M. Twist, director of patient financial services at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, CA, sees the MSP RACs making a comeback. Twist is the finance chair for the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (AAHAM) who has fought Congress on Capitol Hill for better transparency and answers to concerns with RACs on behalf of hospitals.

“I would not be surprised if they bring that back,” she says. “Make sure you’re watching and monitoring that. They’ll keep digging until they find money, even though not much was there with the MSP RACs. It doesn’t mean you should not be focusing on it.”