Orthopaedic surgeons who participate in Medicare may have experienced a claims audit of orthopaedic procedures—particularly total joint replacement procedures. Sometimes the audit results in an overpayment request, which requires the practice to refund payment for a specific claim to Medicare.

To ensure that AAOS members have the information necessary to comply with Medicare policies and avoid overpayment requests or claims denials, the AAOS has established a “Medicare Audits 101” page in the government relations section of the AAOS website. The webpage has been live since January 2012, but just recently an important new tool has been added—an audit reporting mechanism.

This tool—actually a short online survey—is designed to enable AAOS members and their staff to report any significant audit activity to the AAOS. AAOS is collecting this information to gauge the severity of the problem, learn which Medicare jurisdictions are affected, and determine where action is needed.

Visit www.aaos.org/medicare101 to learn more about audits and to access the audit reporting tool.