News Briefs: DOJ Seeks Transfer or Dismissal of Humana Case Challenging RADV Extrapolation

The Dept. of Justice on Dec. 15 filed a motion to transfer or dismiss Humana Inc.’s case against the federal government and its use of extrapolation in Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) audits of Medicare Advantage insurers. After CMS in January finalized plans to begin extrapolating RADV audit findings in recovering improper payments starting with payment year 2018, Humana on Sept. 1 filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to vacate the rule and therefore stop CMS from applying its new audit policy. By excluding a “fee-for-service adjuster” that the agency had once promised would be used in the audits, the RADV audits “do not observe any actuarial standards at all,” the MA insurer argued in Humana Inc. et al v. Becerra et al (No. 4:23-cv-909-O). In its response filed in the Fort Worth division of the District Court, HHS argued that Humana hasn’t been harmed because CMS has not begun any audits under the challenged rule. Moreover, there is no certainty that Humana will be subject to audits under the new rule because CMS hasn’t “chosen the contracts to be audited under the rule for any payment year, nor selected a statistical sampling and extrapolation methodology for any such audits,” stated the response, which was obtained and posted by STAT.

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