CMS has released a report to Congress on “Recovery Auditing in the Medicare and Medicaid Programs for Fiscal Year 2011”.  According to CMS, recovery auditors identified and corrected 887,291 claims amounting to $939.3 million in improper payments in fiscal year 2011; while most of the improper payments ($797.4 million) were overpayments, the auditors also were responsible for $141.9 million in underpayments being repaid to providers and suppliers. After considering all fees (including contingency fees), costs, appeals, and underpayments, the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) Recovery Audit Program returned $488.2 million to the Medicare Trust Fund in FY 2011. CMS discusses procedural changes adopted to decrease the Recovery Auditors errors, and according to CMS, only 2.9% of all Recovery Auditor determinations were challenged and later overturned on appeal. The report notes that short-stay inpatient hospital admission issues represented a significant portion of the Medicare FFS error rate and also represent a large portion of FY 2011 overpayment collections. The report also includes, among other things, an update on the status of recovery audit contracting in the Medicare Advantage, Medicare prescription drug, and Medicaid programs, along with a RAC prepayment review demonstration. On a related note, CMS has posted a “Recovery Audit Program Myths” document, addressing such issues as claims denial rates and review criteria, presumably to combat persistent provider criticism of the program.