As a result of AHA lawsuit, HHS continues to reduce appeals backlog
The Department of Health and Human Services through March 26 has reduced by more than 69% its backlog of Medicare appeals at the Administrative Law Judge level, according to a status report the agency provided Friday to a federal court.
鈥淎t the end of the first quarter of 2021, a total of 131,961 appeals remained pending at OMHA [Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals], which is a reduction of over 69% from the starting number of appeals identified in the Court鈥檚 order (426,594 appeals),鈥� HHS told the court.
The reduction, which puts the agency ahead of schedule for reducing the backlog, responds to a 2018 federal court ruling in favor of the AHA and its member hospital plaintiffs that established annual deadline-based targets for reducing the backlog of Medicare appeals at the ALJ level. It appears that most resolutions are coming from increased OMHA adjudications.