CHICAGO, Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ – Champion Healthcare Technologies (“Champion”), a healthcare information technology company and leader in tissue tracking and medical device management systems (MDMS) for hospitals, in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, has developed a warranty management system to address Medicare overpayments for the replacement of defective medical implants. The Warranty Tracker™ system is currently being piloted at three Mayo Clinic campuses in Rochester, MN, Jacksonville, FL and Phoenix, AZ.
Warranty Tracker™ helps providers automate and streamline the warranty reimbursement process for implanted medical devices including pacemakers and defibrillators, cochlear implants, and neuro stimulators. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), requires hospitals to obtain available credits from manufacturers for replaced medical devices and to keep records of the credits they receive. Currently a provider must undergo a complex series of manual steps without clear visibility into the reimbursement status of returned devices in order to receive full or partial credit from manufacturers for devices that are covered under warranty. Providers are subject to audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and want to ensure the reimbursements from manufacturers are up to date and accurate.
In October 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. government “spent $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to treat 375,000 Medicare patients who received faulty cardiac implants.1” OIG audits confirm overpayments to providers due to issues including improper tracking of device warranty credits from manufacturers. These credits can amount to thousands of dollars per patient and CMS can levy fines to hospitals it judges noncompliant in securing warranty credits which are due without applying those credits to the patient’s bill.
“We’re very proud to work with Mayo Clinic to provide hospitals with a management tool that solves the complex problem of capturing warranty reimbursement dollars and document refunds to Medicare for overpayments on replacement devices,” said Peter Casady, Chief Executive Officer of Champion Healthcare Technologies. “The Warranty Tracker solution draws on Champion’s core expertise developing medical device management systems that improve patient safety and compliance and reduce hospital operating costs.”
Under the agreement, Champion and Mayo co-developed the warranty credit management software and conducted beta testing at Mayo Clinic.
“The process for tracking device warranties can be challenging due to many touchpoints and we at Mayo Clinic have been proactive to improve the processes and efficiency,” says Paul Friedman, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic who has collaborated on the project.
Champion holds the exclusive global marketing license. The warranty credit management solution, Warranty Tracker™, can be incorporated as a module in Champion’s UDITracker® Interventional or UDITracker® OR software solutions.
Mayo Clinic and Dr. Paul Friedman have a financial interest in the technology referenced in this news release. Mayo Clinic will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.
Wall Street Journal – Oct 19, 2016 https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-better-way-to-find-faulty-pacemakers-1476916626
About Champion Healthcare Technologies
Champion Healthcare Technologies is a privately held, healthcare information technology company and leader in tissue tracking and implantable medical device management systems (MDMS) for hospitals. Champion’s flagship system UDITracker® captures, documents and shares medical implant information between patient care and supply chain information systems, empowering hospitals with the insights they need to increase patient safety and drive down operating costs.
