Medicare: Payments for Home Dialysis Much Higher Under Reasonable Charge Method

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Medicare payments to a contractor for furnishing dialysis supplies and equipment to patients who dialyzed at home, focusing on: (1) how the contractor's Medicare payments compared to its cost of providing staff-assisted home dialysis; (2) how total Medicare payments for contractor patients compared with payments for other Florida patients; and (3) whether contractor patient demographic characteristics differed from those of other Florida dialysis patients.