Medicare made more than $23 billion in improper payments in 2017 due to insufficient documentation, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
The GAO also found in its review that Medicaid paid out more than $4 billion for services that were not fully or properly documented. Medicare and Medicaid are supposed to review medical records to ensure that only eligible physicians and hospitals are paid for medically necessary services.
Payments for services that have been inappropriately documented make up a substantial portion of improper payments caused by error in both programs, according to GAO.