Medicare Contractors' Payments to Providers for Hospital Outpatient Dental Services in Jurisdictions E and F Generally Did Not Comply With Medicare Requirements

The payments that Medicare contractors made to providers in Jurisdiction E (American Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, and Northern Mariana Islands) and Jurisdiction F (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) for hospital outpatient dental services generally did not comply with Medicare requirements. Of the 100 dental services in our stratified random sample, 79 did not comply with Medicare requirements. Using our sample results, we estimated that Medicare contractors improperly paid providers in Jurisdictions E and F at least $818,000 from January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2014.