NC Medicaid Dentists: June 12, 2018, Is Recoupment Day

June 12, 2018, is…

the 163rd day of the year. There will be 202 days left in 2018. It is the 24th Tuesday and the 85th day of spring. It is the Filipino Independence Day. And it is Recoupment Day for 80% or more of NC Medicaid dentists.

DHHS sent an important message to The Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons that 80% of dentists who accept Medicaid will be undergoing a recoupment – some for over $25,000. But for claims for dates of service 2013 and 2014. Claims that are 4 and 5 years old! Here is the message:

Please read the following email from Dr. Mark Casey with DMA regarding upcoming recoupment of funds from dentists:

Over a year ago, the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) and our fiscal agent, CSRA, identified defects in NCTracks that had resulted in overpayments to enrolled dental providers in 2013-2014. DMA has been working on a plan to implement two (2) NCTracks system recoupments (claims reprocessing) that will affect a fairly large number of providers. We believe that giving the NCSOMS, other dental professional organizations and our enrolled dental providers plenty of advance notice prior to the recoupment date is a good idea. The number of providers impacted will not be as large as the Medicaid for Pregnant Women (MPW) recoupment of 2015.  You will find a summary of the notice below that will be sent to dental professional membership organizations as well as the two dental schools in the state.

DMA has gone through a lengthy process of identifying all providers who received overpayments and developing a plan for the NCTracks system recoupment.

I have seen the list of providers affected and we expect that a large majority (around 80%) will be able to repay the overpayment in one checkwrite based on their past claims activity. There will be some practices/providers who will be responsible for amounts approaching $25,000 or more. Practices with multiple offices will have multiple amounts recouped based on the multiple organization NPIs used for billing for each office. As you can see from the list of CDT codes that were overpaid below – diagnostic/preventive, restorative, denture repairs, extraction and the expose and bond codes (procedure codes where tooth numbers were reported and tooth surfaces were either reported or not reported) — we expect that general dentists, pediatric dentists and oral surgeons will be the dental provider types most affected by this recoupment.

As I indicated above, the messages that the dental professional organizations and the individual providers will be receiving over the next week or so will offer more detail than this email notice from me. If you have any questions or concerns regarding my email, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mark W. Casey DDS, MPH

Dental Officer
Division of Medical Assistance
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
919 855-4280 office
Mark.Casey@dhhs.nc.gov

Reprocessing of Dental Claims for Overpayment

Issue:  Some dental claims that processed in NCTracks beginning July 1, 2013 through April 20, 2014 paid incorrectly resulting in overpayments to providers.

Duplicate dental claims that included a tooth number and no tooth surface such as procedure codes D0220, D0230, D1351, D2930, D2931, D2932, D2933, D2934, D3220, D3230, D3240, D3310, D3320, D3330, D5520, D5630, D5640, D5650, D5660, D7111, D7140, D7210, D7220, D7230, D7240, D7241, and D7250, D7280, and D7283 processed and paid incorrectly in NCTracks between July 1, 2013, and April 20, 2014.

Additionally, duplicate dental claims for restorative services that included a tooth number and one or more tooth surfaces such as procedure codes D2140, D2150, D2160, D2161, D2330, D2331, D2332, D2335, D2391, D2392, D2393, and D2394 processed and paid incorrectly in NCTracks between July 1, 2013 through October 14, 2013.

Based on NC Medicaid billing guidelines, these duplicate claims should have denied.  This caused an overpayment to providers.

Action: Duplicate dental claims identified with the two issues documented will be recouped and reprocessed in NCTracks to apply the duplicate editing correctly.  Any overpayments identified will be recouped.

Timing: Applicable dental claims will be reprocessed in the June 12, 2018, checkwrite to recoup the overpayments.

Remittance Advice: Reprocessed claims will be displayed in a separate section of the paper Remittance Advice with the unique Explanation of Benefits (EOB) code 10007 ‘DENTAL CLAIM REPROCESSED DUE TO PREVIOUS DUPLICATE PAYMENT’. The 835 electronic transactions will include the reprocessed claims along with other claims submitted for the checkwrite (there is no separate 835 for these reprocessed claims.)

Can DHHS recoup claims that are 4 and 5 years old? How about a mass recoupment without any details as to the reasons for the individual claims being recouped? How about a mass recoupment with no due process?

While we do not have a definitive answer from our court system, my answer is a resounding, “No!

 

 

About kemanuel

Medicare and Medicaid Regulatory Compliance Litigator

Posted on February 22, 2018, in "Single State Agency", Administrative Remedies, Alleged Overpayment, Appeal Rights, Dental Medicaid Providers, Dentistry Services, Due process, Health Care Providers and Services, Knicole Emanuel, Legal Remedies for Medicaid Providers, Medicaid, Medicaid Advocate, Medicaid Appeals, Medicaid Attorney, Medicaid Providers, Medicaid Services, Medicare and Medicaid Provider Audits, NC DHHS, Office of Administrative Hearings, Provider Appeals of Adverse Decisions for Medicare and Medicaid and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.

  1. John Henry Holliday

    Wow, Ms. Emanuel–what can I do if I have already paid back the duplicate payments that were made by NC Medicaid to my practice? Can you help me get this money back?

Leave a Reply

%d