The Medicare Appeals Crisis: Why Mediation is the Medicine

This article will explore how unmeritorious RAC-reversals recently polluted the Medicare appeals process, and how this has led to a crisis for both providers and the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Furthermore, this article will consider the lack of available remedies and narrow measures taken by HHS, and will instead advocate for mediation as the best means of easing the backlog. While the delays also directly affect Medicare beneficiaries, this article will limit its discussion to the backlog in relation to providers and suppliers