The Four “Audit” Worlds — Compared Clearly
Welcome back everybody after the holidays. As a CPA, I have always been uncomfortable when the word “Audit” is used to describe activity since the term
Welcome back everybody after the holidays. As a CPA, I have always been uncomfortable when the word “Audit” is used to describe activity since the term
Today, I want to revisit a foundational flaw in how federal audit contractors calculate overpayments – a flaw so severe that in any other federal
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ritesh Ramesh, CEO for MDaudit, appeared on Monitor Monday to report his company’s findings on nationwide audit trends. The rate of payer audits
The Medicare audit landscape has undergone a fundamental transformation, evolving from ad hoc enforcement practices to scientifically rigorous methodological frameworks. This evolution spans two critical
We’ve trained ourselves to audit documentation, audit codes, audit teams – but now we need to ensure we have added something else to the list:
The Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs) were developed to ensure the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid by identifying and recovering improper payments. Established to streamline
Federal contractors – Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) and Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs) – have increasingly targeted wound care claims, particularly involving expensive skin substitutes
Let me start with a recently published audit of a home care agency, Sunflower Home Health in Cleveland Mississippi. During a two-year audit period, the
There’s no gentle way to say it: when your healthcare facility is facing insolvency, it feels like the house is on fire – and the
Imagine receiving notice that your healthcare organization faces a potential multimillion-dollar repayment demand based on the review of just 100 claims. This scenario, playing out
In the ever-evolving world of Medicare audits, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of Alice’s Wonderland. Enter stage right: artificial intelligence (AI), a
Let me open by saying I am so happy to be here. For those of you who watched the live version of last week’s Monitor

Join Ronald Hirsch, MD, FACP, CHCQM for The PEPPER Returns – Risk and Opportunity at Your Fingertips, a practical webcast that demystifies the PEPPER and shows you how to turn complex claims data into actionable insights. Dr. Hirsch will explain how to interpret key measures, identify compliance risks, uncover missed revenue opportunities, and understand new updates in the PEPPER, all to help your organization stay ahead of audits and use this powerful data proactively.

Stay ahead of the 2026-2027 audit surge with “Top 10 Audit Targets for 2026-2027 for Hospitals & Physicians: Protect Your Revenue,” a high-impact webcast led by Michael Calahan, PA, MBA. This concise session gives hospitals and physicians clear insight into the most likely federal audit targets, such as E/M services, split/shared and critical care, observation and admissions, device credits, and Two-Midnight Rule changes, and shows how to tighten documentation, coding, and internal processes to reduce denials, recoupments, and penalties. Attendees walk away with practical best practices to protect revenue, strengthen compliance, and better prepare their teams for inevitable audits.

As AI reshapes healthcare compliance, the risk of biased outputs and opaque decision-making grows. This webcast, led by Frank Cohen, delivers a practical Four-Pillar Governance Framework—Transparency, Accountability, Fairness, and Explainability—to help you govern AI-driven claim auditing with confidence. Learn how to identify and mitigate bias, implement robust human oversight, and document defensible AI review processes that regulators and auditors will accept. Discover concrete remedies, from rotation protocols to uncertainty scoring, and actionable steps to evaluate vendors before contracts are signed. In a regulatory landscape that moves faster than ever, gain the tools to stay compliant, defend your processes, and reduce liability while maintaining operational effectiveness.

Get clear, practical answers to Medicare’s most confusing regulations. Join Dr. Ronald Hirsch as he breaks down real-world compliance challenges and shares guidance your team can apply right away.

Expert presenters Kathy Pride, RHIT, CPC, CCS-P, CPMA, and Brandi Russell, RHIA, CCS, COC, CPMA, break down complex fracture care coding rules, walk through correct modifier application (-25, -57, 54, 55), and clarify sequencing for initial and subsequent encounters. Attendees will gain the practical knowledge needed to submit clean claims, ensure compliance, and stay one step ahead of payer audits in 2026.

Accurately determining the principal diagnosis is critical for compliant billing, appropriate reimbursement, and valid quality reporting — yet it remains one of the most subjective and error-prone areas in inpatient coding. In this expert-led session, Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP, demystifies the complexities of principal diagnosis assignment, bridging the gap between coding rules and clinical reality. Learn how to strengthen your organization’s coding accuracy, reduce denials, and ensure your documentation supports true medical necessity.

Denials continue to delay reimbursement, increase administrative burden, and threaten financial stability across healthcare organizations. This essential webcast tackles the root causes—rising payer scrutiny, fragmented workflows, inconsistent documentation, and underused analytics—and offers proven, data-driven strategies to prevent and overturn denials. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen documentation and coding accuracy, engage clinicians effectively, and leverage predictive analytics and AI to identify risks before they impact revenue. Through real-world case examples and actionable guidance, this session empowers coding, CDI, and revenue cycle professionals to shift from reactive appeals to proactive denial prevention and revenue protection.

Sepsis remains one of the most frequently denied and contested diagnoses, creating costly revenue loss and compliance risks. In this webcast, Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, provides practical, real-world strategies to align documentation with coding guidelines, reconcile Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions, and apply compliant queries. You’ll learn how to identify and address documentation gaps, strengthen provider engagement, and defend diagnoses against payer scrutiny—equipping you to protect reimbursement, improve SOI/ROM capture, and reduce audit vulnerability in this high-risk area.
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