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MediTract: A Tool to Manage Contracts, Mitigate Fraud and Eliminate Waste and Abuse In Third Party Contracting

Contracting with third party entities accounts for one of the highest cost expenditure for healthcare facilities, second only to employee costs. An organization's contracting processes also introduce a considerable amount of regulatory risk into what appear, on the surface, to be common day-to-day tasks.

Taking proactive measures including increasing access and visibility as well as establishing controls for contract management operations not only saves an organization's money but greatly reduces the risk of violations and non-compliance of the laws, regulations and standards that they are required to operate within.

Cost and Compliance Issues Arising from Contracting

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a handful of new anti-fraud provisions, it has failed to address many issues raised by the Office of Inspector General, Government Accountability Office (GAO), and members of Congress from both parties. For example, the administration has not completely addressed GAO recommendations related to clarifying the roles and responsibilities for implementing certain contractor oversight responsibilities, clearing a backlog of contacts overdue for closeout and finished its investigation of over $70 million in payments GAO questioned in 2007. While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the Act's anti-fraud provisions would save about $5.8 billion over the next ten years, that is less than one percent of the expected fraud against federal healthcare programs during the same period.

Through better contract management of their covered and uncovered healthcare professionals and contracting third parties, the second highest cost to healthcare facilities second only to employee expenditures, hospitals can dramatically enhance their compliance of enforced laws, such as the Stark anti-self-referral laws while simultaneously preventing unintentionally fraudulent, wasteful and abusive contractual practices. Better contract management also enables hospitals to enhance compliance with federal and state requirements to lower their operating costs.

Areas that MediTract has been proven to affect how hospital organizations control the prevention of fraud, waste and abuse are:

Physician/Vendor Payments – By managing all contracts in MediTract, organizations can easily identify fraud and abuse focused within payments outside of contractual provisions to include over/duplicate payments to Health Care Professionals (HCPs), Fair Market Value (FMV) outlier payments, payments on expired or unsigned agreements and payments on expired/unenforceable contracts.

Service/Material Vendors – MediTract gives administrators a powerful tool which identifies waste by managing fees, accelerator provisions, end of term cost increases and by providing all the data necessary to consolidate/standardize vendors and services, resulting in lower costs. MediTract eases the evaluation of service providers contracted for same/similar services and helps to identify multiple agreements with the same vendor, allowing for weighted scales of economy when negotiating aggregate rates.

Conflict of Interests – MediTract's Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement Service (COIDS) can be used to reduce fraud and abuse by providing a means to proactively identify potential conflicts of interest between third parties and the organization and documenting the moral/ethical decision-making processes of mid-level to Executive Management and Board members. Operational, fiscal and reputational risk elements are reduced/alleviated when full disclosure and accountability exist at all levels. Non-profit tax exempt organizations utilize COIDS for completing IRS Form 990 Schedule H, which requires the reporting of these disclosures and possible conflicts to include resolution planning detail.

Compliance with Joint Commission Contract Language and Monitoring Requirements – Custom fields within the solution enable administrators to document an unlimited array of standards of care performance measurement details, which enhance reporting capabilities and demonstrate an organization's adherence to Joint Commission leadership standards, LD.04.03.09 requirements and CMS Conditions of Participation. Quality monitoring of clinical and nonclinical contracts, results in reduced waste and increased effectiveness of overall operations at the fiscal level.

Contract Review, Creation and Workflow– MediTract provides a powerful embedded workflow engine called Contract Collaborator, which enables organizations to review existing agreements before expiration. This helps organizations to better evaluate the feasibility of continuing/renewing the contractual relationship based on the services rendered or the material oriented benefits. Contract Collaborator also allows contract originators to review and negotiate more powerful/beneficial terms and provisions by providing access to compliant, pre-approved, standardized contract language which increases the material value of each agreement, thereby reducing waste, abuse and possible fraud.

Compliance Pays

Using MediTract to assist in managing compliance and regulatory obligations produces tangible dollar savings. A study of actual client experiences shows that every $1 spent results in $14.40 to $16.28 of savings in the form of increased efficiency, cost reductions (including "green" savings) and non-compliance avoidance.

MediTract Web Based Electronic Contract Management Service

The effectiveness of an electronic contract management system is significantly improved if that functionality is made available as a Web-Based application. Web-based contract management allows organizations to widen access to the solution and streamline their processes while decreasing costs and dependence on staff for support and maintenance.

MediTract and Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs)

MediTract has been called in on hundreds of instances to address specific areas of concern covered in Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIA). Currently MediTract is used by fourteen parent healthcare organizations and a total of 37 subsidiary affiliates under CIA. These organizations typically utilize MediTract to perform the following requirements:

  • Creating and maintaining a database of all existing and new or renewed Focus Arrangements*1 that shall contain the information specified in the Focus Arrangements Databases
  • Tracking renumeration to and from all parties to each Focus Arrangement
  • Tracking service and activity logs to ensure that parties to the Focus Arrangement are performing the services required under the applicable Focus Arrangement
  • Monitoring the use of leased space, medical supplies, medical devices, equipment or other patient care items to ensure that the applicable Focus Arrangements' use is consistent with the terms of establishing and implementing a written review and approval process for all Arrangements. This includes but is not limited to a legal review of Focus Arrangements by counsel with expertise in the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law as well as appropriate documentation of all internal controls. These measures help ensure that all new, existing and/or renewed Arrangements do not violate the Law
  • Requiring the Compliance Officer to review the Focus Arrangements Database, internal review and approval process, and other Arrangements Procedures on at least a quarterly basis and to provide a report on the results of such review to the Compliance Committee
  • Implementing effective responses when suspected violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law are discovered, including disclosing Reportable Events and quantifying and repaying overpayments when appropriate

Hospitals that have found themselves in violation and subject to CIAs relative to Agreements/Arrangements understand that having a centralized, real-time and on-demand functional database with enterprise access to "One Version of the Truth" is the cornerstone to compliance with the legal, moral and fiduciary responsibilities they are faced with daily.

Summary

Visibility and controls are the first steps in managing day-to-day contractual terms and provisions between hospitals and physicians/vendors. Having the ability to predetermine the elements by which agreements are regulated and proactively manage these elements greatly reduces risk of violations and non-compliance of the laws, regulations and standards which hospitals must follow. The use of web-based applications allows organizations to streamline the deployment of these best practices across all lines business, helping to ensure the incorporation of compliance and broaden the reach of accountability.

About MediTract, Inc.

MediTract is the leading healthcare contract management company in the United States. MediTract was founded in 2000 by healthcare executives with in-depth knowledge of how both providers and payers prioritize their physician and supplier contracts, monitor contract compliance, and reduce the cost of doing business. The company's proven solutions are helping thousands of healthcare organizations improve visibility and control of their contractual obligations, enhance compliance and streamline workflows.

Media contact information:

JoshTroop, Director of Marketing (828) 337-9241
jtroop@tractmanager.com