Review of Medicare Payments for Trauma Claims

There have been concerns about trauma centers improperly billing for trauma team activation that is not medically necessary. In addition, we found some providers have received trauma team activation payments without proper designation or verification. Currently, CMS does not track which providers are designated or verified as trauma centers. We will determine the amount of Medicare overpayments and Medicare charges that affect future hospital payments, and we will identify providers that are not trauma centers or that billed for medically unnecessary trauma team activations.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
November 2022	Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services	Review of Medicare Payments for Trauma Claims	Office of Audit Services	WA-23-0004 (W-00-23-35893)	2025