Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities to Receive PEPPER; Register Now for Training

Beginning in June 2011, CMS will make available free hospital-specific comparative data reports for inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) nationwide. The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) provides hospital-specific data statistics for Medicare discharges that may be at risk for improper Medicare payments. 

Facilities can use the data to support internal auditing and monitoring activities.  PEPPER is the only free report comparing an IPF’s Medicare billing practices with other IPFs in the state, among Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) or Fiscal Intermediary (FI) jurisdictions, and in the nation. CMS has contracted with TMF Health Quality Institute to develop and distribute the reports.

PEPPERs will be distributed to IPF administrators/CEOs in hard copy format via FedEx in late June.  TMF will conduct a web-based training session for IPF staff providing information on PEPPER and how to use it on Wed June 29 at 1pm CT; to register for the training, IPF staff should visit https://TMFevents.webex.com. 

Because registration is limited, IPFs are encouraged to coordinate internally to prevent duplicate registrations per facility.  The training session will be recorded and posted on http://www.PEPPERresources.org.

For more information, including a sample PEPPER for IPFs, visit the PEPPER website.