Fifteen years after CMS published a final rule that required home health agencies to obtain surety bonds, that regulation still has not been implemented, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) notes in a report published Sept. 28.

As a result, at least $39 million in overpayments went uncollected between 2007 and 2011 alone, the OIG estimates. That amount is based on the total in uncollected overpayments for those years and the amount for the required surety bond, which is $50,000 or 15% of the agency's annual Medicare reimbursement - whichever is higher.

In its response to the OIG report, CMS agrees that it’s time to implement the surety bond requirement and notes it’s “evaluating its options” on how to do so.

Find the OIG report at https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-03-12-00070.pdfm.