The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule in the Federal Register on February 12 reducing the overpayment lookback period to six years from the ten years indicated in the proposed rule. This final rule, titled “Medicare Program, Reporting and Returning of Overpayments,” requires providers and suppliers receiving funds under the Medicare program to report and return overpayments by the later of 60 days after the overpayment was identified or the date any corresponding cost report is due, if applicable. The final rule also states that a person has identified an overpayment if he or she has actual knowledge of the existence of an overpayment or acts in reckless disregard or deliberate ignorance of the overpayment.
The effective date of this rule is March 14. However, this obligation will extend to overpayments received before that date, even though the obligation to report and return such overpayments under this rule will not be effective until March 14.
