Bill threatens Medicare quality contractors
Source: By Jeffrey Young, The Hill, August 08, 2007
The private firms that contract with Medicare to handle beneficiary complaints and recommend quality improvements to hospitals and other providers could see their industry fundamentally shaken up by new Senate legislation.
The legislation would deprive the contractors of their current authority to conduct investigations of complaints about medical providers while acting as consultants to those same providers. Some lawmakers, consumer advocates and regulators view these dual roles as conflicts of interest, although the industry maintains they should go hand in hand.