CMS has released its 2011 Ombudsman Report to Congress, which describes the activities of the Office of the Medicare Ombudsman (OMO) and sets forth the OMO’s recommendations for improving beneficiaries’ experiences with Medicare. Specific recommendations to CMS cover three topics: (1) recovery of conditional payments from beneficiaries by the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Contractor; (2) the indirect effects on beneficiaries of Recovery Audit Contractors’ retroactive identification and recovery of improper fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare payments; and (3) negative beneficiary consequences stemming from the use of hospital observation services for extended periods of time.