Today I was interviewed by WRAL.  The interview will be aired during the 6:00 news.  Please watch.

I am so thankful that WRAL saw a story in my client‘s injustice.  My client received a Medicaid termination letter recently, which means that she must discharge all Medicaid recipients and no longer provide Medicaid recipients with the mental health care they need.  She engaged in no fraud.  No, my client provided the mental health services to Medicaid recipients and billed for the services rendered.  The reason she was terminated from Medicaid was because a contracted company for the State decided that her documentation was inadequate (paperwork nit-picking).

Ok, I’m sure that a number of you is sitting there reading this thinking, “Well, her documentation was poor. She should have done a better job.”  No.  Let me explain.

The State has contracted with a couple of companies to audit Medicaid, Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs).  These companies are compensated on a contingent fee, meaning the more errors the companies find, the more money the companies receive.  A RAC audited my client’s documents.  My client provides mental health services (which receive prior authorization).  The RAC is auditing claims from 2009-2010.  So all the claims have been approved back in 2009-2010 by ValueOptions, the State’s contracted company to approve mental health services.  Now, in 2013, the RAC is claiming that the very documentation that was approved in 2009-2010, is now inadequate.

The problem? (And the problem I have seen over and over with many health care providers):

The contracted companies are not being overseen by the State. They have full reign. Unfortunately, many times, the RACs are applying the Medicaid policy requirements from 2013 to Medicaid claims from 2009-2010.  Meaning, the contracted companies are reviewing the current policies and applying them retroactively.

My favorite example of this (not necessarily applicable to my client in this instance) is Implementation Update #68. In Implementation Update #68, the State changed the practice of using an Introductory Person-Centered Plan (Intro PCP).  Before Implementation Update #68, an Intro PCP was written prior to any assessment.  Yet, I have had instances with clients in which the State (via its contracted companies) has stated that a health care provider owed the Medicaid reimbursement back to the State because the Intro PCP was dated prior to the assessment. Yes, NOW, the PCP will be dated after the assessment. But not back in 2009. Therefore, the contracted companies are using the criteria from current policies to audit Medicaid claims from the past.

Why is this important? Today, health care providers who accept Medicaid are getting audits, causing those health care providers to expend time, money and man-power on defending the claims. Who loses? The Medicaid recipients who need the services.  Already, a small percentage of health care providers accept Medicaid.  Medicaid recipients need health care providers willing to see them.

We are appealing my client’s termination of her Medicaid contract.  But the potential consequences (should our appeal not work) are dire. The Medicaid recipients receiving mental health services from my client will need to be discharged.  These people in need of mental health care, will have to find another psychologist, when over 60% of health care providers refuse to accept Medicaid.

Shouldn’t we, as a population, be grateful to health care providers who decide to accept Medicaid recipients? We are not paying high enough reimbursements already, most providers refuse Medicaid recipients. So when a health care provider does accept Medicaid, we should say, “Thank you.” Not scrutinize the documentation (when the services were provided) and say, “Hey, those documents are not compliant with 2013 standards. Yeah, I know the services were provided in 2009, but you should have had a crystal ball and known the policies would become more stringent. Your fault.”