Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC, Claimed Some Unallowable Medicare Postretirement Benefit Costs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimburses contractors for a portion of their postretirement benefit (PRB) costs, which are funded by the contributions that contractors make to their dedicated trust fund.At CMS's request, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Audit Services, Region VII pension audit team reviews the cost elements related to qualified defined-benefit, PRB, and any other pension-related cost elements claimed by Medicare contractors through Final Administrative Cost Proposals (FACPs). Previous OIG reviews found that Medicare contractors did not always comply with Federal requirements when claiming PRB costs for Medicare reimbursement.Our objective was to determine whether the fiscal years (FYs) 2011 through 2013 PRB costs that Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC (NHS), claimed for Medicare reimbursement under its fiscal intermediary and carrier contracts, and reported on its FACPs, were allowable and correctly claimed.