Entries by Jenevra Azzopardi, CPhT

Splitting Suboxone® Can Lead to Audit Recoupments

PAAS National®® has noticed an uptick in audit recoupments for Suboxone® claims where the patient instructions were to split the films or tablets. Notably, OptumRx has a renewed focused on these claims and has been citing them as…

DEA Suffixes: A Quick Reference for Pharmacists

According to 21 CFR 1306.03, a prescriber must be authorized to prescribe controlled substances in the place they are licensed to practice and must either be registered with the DEA or exempted from registration (typically reserved for officials of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, or […]

From Problem to Progress: Best Practices for Corrective Action Plans (CAP)

A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is a document your pharmacy may develop in response to issues that arise (e.g., negative audit findings), helping to identify root causes, and how your pharmacy will prevent the same discrepancies from happening in the future. You may choose to develop your own informal CAP to help train or retrain […]

Days’ Supply Mistakes: A Fast Track to Recoupment

Calculating the days’ supply on a claim is something every pharmacy does throughout the workday. With a multitude of claims, clerical errors are bound to happen. What are the audit consequences when a days’ supply is billed incorrectly?

Unannounced CMS Site Visits

PAAS National®® has recently seen an uptick in the number of unannounced CMS site visits related to Medicare enrollment or revalidation. These visits are currently being conducted by Novitas Solutions, the contracted National Provider Enrollment East (NPEast) contractor and Palmetto GBA® for the NPWest. Site visits are performed to verify the business location and ensure […]

Oral Inhalers – What You Need to Know About Institutional Pack Sizes

Oral inhaler prescriptions are frequently targeted for audit by PBMs because of their cost, frequent billing errors (e.g., incorrect days’ supply), or prescribing errors (e.g., non-mathematically calculable directions or incorrect written quantity). Vague written quantities can cause recoupments when multiple package sizes exist, including institutional package sizes.