Headline News
AAHomecare Details Flaws in OIG Oxygen Report
ALEXANDRIA, Va.--A new analysis commissioned by the American Association for Homecare disputes the findings in a recent HHS Office of Inspector General report on home oxygen.
The analysis from Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based Morrison Informatics said that the recommendations in the OIG report--including a 13-month cap on home oxygen rental--are based on "limited and inadequate data" about the actual costs of providing home oxygen therapy to Medicare beneficiaries. An earlier study from Morrison, also commissioned by AAHomecare, found that services account for the lion's share of costs in providing home oxygen at 72 percent (see HomeCare Monday, July 10).
According to the health care consulting firm, the OIG report considers only the costs of oxygen concentrators, which understates actual costs. "The narrow scope of the OIG report results in information that is neither accurate nor complete, and its findings should not be used for determining Medicare home oxygen reimbursement policy," AAHomecare reported in its newsletter last week.
The analysis noted other problems, including:
