In this episode, we are joined by Knicole Emanuel, Partner at the Potomac Law Group, to discuss the suspension of audits during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Learn how to listen to The Hospital Finance Podcast® on your mobile device.Highlights of this episode include:
- Background on why CMS will forego all audits unrelated to the coronavirus.
- What types of audits will CMS continue during the coronavirus pandemic?
- What providers need to know about complying with current audits, such as TPE audits.
- How providers can protect themselves by documenting exceptions such as two-day admissions.
- And more…
Mike Passanante: Hi, this is Mike Passanante and welcome back to the award-winning Hospital Finance Podcast®.
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the government has suspended most auditing activities for providers. To sort out what that means for hospitals, I’m joined by Knicole Emanuel. Knicole is an attorney at Potomac Law Group in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she concentrates on Medicare and Medicaid regulatory compliance litigation. Knicole, welcome to the show.
Knicole Emanuel: Thank you and thank you for having me.
Mike: Knicole, the government announced that it is suspending survey activities. Practically what does that mean for providers?
Knicole: Well, so right now because of the Coronavirus, CMS has decided to forego audits that are unrelated to the coronavirus. So actually effective April 3, 2020. The only audits that will be conducted will be those audits that are germane to all immediate Jeopardy complaints. Those kind of cases that represent a situation in which an entities non-compliance has placed the health and safety of recipients in its care at risk for serious injury. So we’re talking about potential serious injury or serious harm.
Another audit that’s going to continue would be complaints alleging infection control concerns because that would obviously be impacted by the coronavirus. Any sort of statutorily required recertification surveys are going to be conducted. I would assume that they’re going to be conducted telephonically. They’re not going to be going on-site and revisits necessary to resolve current enforcement actions. That’s important because when this Coronavirus all came about, there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, perhaps thousands upon thousands of healthcare providers already in the middle of TPE audits or RAC audits or MAC audit. And they’d already had on-site visits, they’d already had maybe perhaps a lower accuracy rating. And they’re going to be stuck in this cycle of being stuck in the audit until they can get a resurvey because with this coronavirus the penalties that they’re enduring, whether it’s a suspension of admission, or whether it’s a monetary penalty. These penalties are being administered even if they cannot have a secondary or a revisit of the audit to get them off of the penalty that they’re currently on. So it’s really important that people who are in the middle of audit and when all this came down to get them off of the audit cycle so they can go back to providing care.
Mike: So essentially, there are a number of activities that are suspended. But it’s important for providers to know that there is a subset of activities that will continue even during this period.
Knicole: Correct. But they’re all going to be activities that are of the utmost importance. The items that take lower priority are going to be pushed down.
Mike: Okay, and you mentioned the TPE audits a second ago. So that’s the targeted probe and education. Are they going to continue during this time period as far as you know?
Knicole: Well, so as far as I know, they are not going to continue as in they’re not going to start new TPE audit. Now the question then becomes, “Well, I received a document request a month ago for a TPE audit. Do I need to comply now?” And the conservative safe answer is to go ahead and keep complying with these document requests. Although the deadlines for these document requests, those are going to be extended. I’m sure you’ll be able to get extensions for trying to comply with those. And in reality, if you contact the people who are conducting the audit, you may find that the entire audit in general is put on pause. But don’t assume it’s put on pause. Try to make sure you comply, unless you find out it’s on pause. And if you get something over the email or over a phone that says that your TPE audit is paused currently, follow up with an email and get it in writing. Because future audit, they’re not going to remember that your particular audit was with pause during the coronavirus.
Mike: That’s great advice, Knicole. Do you have any other recommendations for providers as they’re navigating through this time?
Knicole: Yes, I do. There are a number of providers right now that are asking for exceptions, and I can give examples. So for example, in the hospital setting, there are hospitals that are asking for waivers for the inpatient admission standards or the two-day admission, or the moon rules. All those kind of things are asking for exceptions, and a lot of the hospital, A lot of the providers are getting the exceptions they need to allow people to have to stay longer in their hospitals because they have nowhere to discharge them. They can’t go back to their nursing homes where the coronavirus may or may not be. And so, because they’re getting all these exceptions, five years from now when you’re undergoing an audit, no one is going to remember that you had this exception that this particular consumer can stay in my hospital for two extra days or five extra days. And five years from now, you may get audited and say, “Well, you got to recoup all this money because you let them stay in for too long of a time.” When in reality, you are given an exception, write all the exceptions down. Keep one place, keep a computer program, keep a hard copy, whatever you want to do, and notebook, if that you want to get down to not having any technology involved. But keep track of all of these exceptions that you get as little as they may be because if you’re getting an exception for one person, and that one person can stay longer than the two-day allowance for the outpatient stays, and you multiply that by, okay, well, now you’ve got to take that exception and extrapolate it again, 200 people over the course of a year, that’s a lot of money we’re talking about. So you need to make sure you keep track of all the exceptions, no matter how small. And keep track of them somewhere that you’re not going to lose them. If your attrition rate is high with executives, you need to make sure that the next people in line had that knowledge so that in future audit, you can explain that you did not abide by the regulations for good reason. You had an exception, but no one’s keeping track of all these exceptions.
Mike: And so, it’s great advice, Knicole. And I know you’ve got a great blog of your own that people can follow. If people wanted to read more about what’s going on here on that blog or get in touch with you, how can they do that?
Knicole: Well, you’re more than welcome to go onto my blog, which is Medicare and Medicaid law. It is at medicaidlawnc.com. You can also contact me at any time. I’m at Potomac Law Group. I help providers across the country and not only in North Carolina, but in 33 states. And so, I am pretty well versed on all the exceptions that I’m seeing. It’s really fast-paced right now. It’s scary. It’s surreal. But it is really important to make sure that everything is written down because in the future– I mean, that old saying that old adage for nurses, if it’s not written, it doesn’t exist, is really going to matter in the future years.
Mike: Knicole, thanks for adding some clarity around this very complex issue. We appreciate you coming back to the show today.
Knicole: Absolutely. Thank you.
COVID-19, better known as Coronavirus, has spread throughout the world. Symptoms of this respiratory disease may include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. These symptoms may show up 2 to 14 days after exposure. If you are experiencing these symptoms and have come into contact or are in an area with an ongoing outbreak, please call a hotline and/or consult with a physician. Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces. For more information, please visit cdc.gov/covid19. Thank you.
