I am now at an orthopedic office as a coding supervisor and Im identifying some areas that need new processes. Our Podiatrist started a resident program at a local hospital about 4 years ago. He did all the leg work to get this program up and running however, we recently identified that a GC modifier and/or an attestation statement wasnt being utilized in our documentation and claims. We had a meeting with our Podiatrist in November and addressed this issue and we now are using the GC modifier and attestation statement when a resident is involved in both inpatient and outpatient (office).
My question is we now that we have identified this issue, we want to make sure we handle the old claims appropriately. Since we would have to go back 4 years, I want to make sure we cover our bases. If we would self-report to Medicare our issue, do you see any repercussions with this? How would this scenario work? Would we have to submit corrected claims? Would they take the money back? Would they penalize us for this error?
If you could give us some guidance as to what steps we can take to make sure we handle this the best way possible? Again I appreciate your time and hope you have a great day!