Tampa, Fla. – In a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Carlton Fields health care attorney Jim Kennedy said that there has been a tremendous increase in health care auditing. This trend stems from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medical Services to contract private firms, known as recovery audit contractors (RACs), to investigate any improper Medicare payments made to health care providers.

“Recovery auditors tend to go after hospitals and look for high-volume procedures in which one item may be coded wrong, resulting in allegations of high-dollar over-payments that pay off for RACs. This is a cost recovery tool by the federal government to get money back into the system.”

Kennedy, who is a certified health law specialist and a shareholder in the Tampa office of Carlton Fields, shared that many clients are taking proactive measures to follow regulations. Why? Kennedy said that other regulatory entitles like the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services are also auditing. “A provider may be audited three times a year by different entities.”

READ: “Health Care Audits Lead to Law Work” (subscription required)