VA OIG Auditors Discuss Improper Payments for Community Acupuncture and Chiropractic Services and Risks to Evaluation and Management Services

Inside Oversight

Senior Auditors Geoff Ferguson and Gris Soto discuss two related reports on improper payments for community acupuncture and chiropractic services and overall risks to evaluation and management services. In the first report, the VA OIG audited acupuncture and chiropractic care by non‑VA providers after becoming aware of patterns that suggested questionable billing practices by those providers. In the second report, the VA OIG conducted a review to identify and evaluate the VHA’s risk of improperly paying community care providers for evaluation and management services not supported by medical documentation. Both reports were published on December 8, 2021.

Referenced reports:

VHA Improperly Paid and Reauthorized Non-VA Acupuncture and Chiropractic Services

The Office of Community Care, part of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), manages programs that allow veterans to receive medical care from non VA providers. This audit evaluated whether VHA paid for non-VA acupuncture and chiropractic care that was not authorized or supported by medical documentation. The audit team also assessed whether VHA followed guidance for reauthorizing the care. The team found that VHA paid for care that was not authorized, including for more visits than allowed and for treatments not allowed by standards for care. For example, some acupuncturists billed for more than two rounds of needle insertions when only two rounds were allowed. VA’s automated system for processing claims did not prohibit unauthorized visits or unallowable treatments in claims submitted by non-VA providers. Further, VHA paid acupuncture and chiropractic claims that lacked appropriate supporting medical documentation. The unsupported payments persisted because VHA staff did not retroactively review documentation samples for deficiencies. The audit team estimated that improper payments for acupuncture and chiropractic care amounted to about $136.7 million during fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The audit team also found that VHA did not always follow guidance when reauthorizing acupuncture and chiropractic care. Not documenting assessments of prior treatments before authorizing additional care may interfere with veterans’ treatment. The OIG made six recommendations to the under secretary for health related to adding automated payment system controls, auditing the payment process, retrospectively auditing non-VA medical documentation, making continuing education material related to medical documentation available to non-VA providers, following the Office of Community Care’s Field Guidebook, and documenting clinical justification for non-VA care.

VHA Risks Overpaying Community Care Providers for Evaluation and Management Services

The OIG conducted this review to determine the risk of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) improperly paying community care providers for evaluation and management services not supported by medical documentation. The review team found that some providers are billing VA at a significantly higher rate for high-level evaluation and management services than their peers in the same specialty. The team determined that in fiscal year (FY) 2020, more than 37,900 non-VA providers billed and were paid for significantly more high-level evaluation and management codes than were all providers in that specialty on average. These non-VA providers received about $39.1 million (13 percent) of the approximately $303.6 million paid for all non-VA evaluation and management services. Additionally, some providers billed separately for evaluation and management services during periods when the global surgery package was in effect. This package is supposed to cover all surgery-related services for a set period. The review team identified more than 45,600 providers who were paid about $37.8 million in FY 2020 for these evaluation and management services. Improper payments were not easy to detect because VHA staff did not retrospectively audit medical documentation as required. Additionally, the OIG found no evidence that VHA or contractors trained non VA providers on documenting evaluation and management services, similar to how VA providers are trained. The OIG determined VHA risked overpaying for evaluation and management services by about $19.9 million in FY 2020. The OIG made two recommendations to the under secretary for health related to (1) reviewing medical documentation for evaluation and management services billed by non-VA providers and then developing processes to act on the results of those reviews; and (2) ensuring non-VA providers receive current and future continuing education materials on proper medical documentation for evaluation and management services.