8 recent OIG audit findings

HHS' Office of Inspector General has found several Medicare Advantage plans received overpayments in recent months. 

Here are eight findings from the government watchdog Becker's has reported since January. 

1. Medicare improperly paid for over half a billion dollars in psychotherapy services, including $348 million in improper telehealth claims, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, an audit published May 2 found.
   
   
2. Medicare could have saved $128 million in duplicate claims payments with a better data-sharing agreement with the Veterans Health Administration, an audit published in April found.
   
   
3. HumanaChoice received an estimated $27.3 million in overpayments in 2015 and 2016, according to an audit published in April. Humana disagreed with OIG's findings and recommendations, according to the audit. The payer disputed the watchdog's audit methodology and estimated overpayments.
   
   
4. Cigna-HealthSpring Life & Health Insurance Company received an estimated $6.24 million in Medicare Advantage overpayments in 2016 and 2017, according to an audit published in March. Cigna disagreed with the OIG's recommendations and findings and disputed the audit's methodology.
   
   
5. Geisinger Health Plan received $6.5 million in Medicare Advantage overpayments in 2016 and 2017, according to an audit published in March. Geisinger disagreed with all of CMS' findings and recommendations, according to the report.
   
   
6. Medicare Advantage plans are not required to identify when payments claims were denied, hindering fraud, waste and abuse investigations, according to an OIG report published in March. The watchdog organization recommended that CMS require organizations to definitively indicate when claims have been denied.
   
   
7. CMS needs better strategies to ensure proper oversight of Medicare Part B drug payment calculations, a December 2022 report from the OIG found.
   
   
8. Medicare Advantage plan Cigna HealthSpring of Tennessee received $5.9 million in overpayments from the federal government in 2016 and 2017, according to an OIG audit published in December 2022. Cigna did not concur with OIG's recommendations or findings and disputes OIG's audit methodology.