It is no secret that payers - including Medicare, private insurance companies and HMOs - have significantly increased their oversight of physician practices' medical records in an effort to identify improper payment and fight fraud and abuse. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have used Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) since 2005 to look at services performed by the provider and determine if any over- or under-payment has occurred. RACs are now a permanent, nationwide program. While the chances of a practice undergoing an audit were once slim, it is now a virtual certainty that every practice will undergo an audit at some point. How well you and your practice fare during an audit depends on your readiness to respond to a request from one of the RACs. This article will help you to manage the audit process and decide what to do in the event that over- or under-payments are found. more...