If you're like me and you've been waiting for the latest installment of the Comprehensive Error Rate Test (CERT) report, you can stop waiting and move on to other things. It's not coming.
Over the last few years, a mid-year report on improper payments was released in mid-May followed by a final report in mid-November. CMS informs Part B News in an e-mail that the agency is evaluating how error rates are calculated and there will be no mid-year report this year.
Last summer, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) found problems with how the CERT reported durable medical equipment errors in 2006 (subscribers, please click here for our coverage). The OIG followed with its own recommendations on how to figure out error rates and CMS is now reviewing the methodology.
Here's the text of the e-mail I received:
Based on recommendations made by the Office of the Inspector General CMS is currently evaluating and revising the medical review approach used to determine the error rates; therefore, CMS is not releasing a May improper payment report this year.
CMS expects that the November 2009 improper payment report will be released to the public as scheduled on or about November 15, 2009. This report will reflect any changes CMS decides to make to the CERT process or to CMS policy.