Review of Pension Costs Claimed for Medicare Reimbursement by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi for Fiscal Years 1997 Through 2009

摘要

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi (BCBS Mississippi), through its wholly owned subsidiary TriSpan Health Services, Inc., administered Medicare Part A operations under cost reimbursement contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) until the contractual relationship was terminated effective September 30, 2009. CMS reimburses a portion of the annual contributions that contractors make to their pension plans. In claiming costs, contractors must follow cost reimbursement principles contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Cost Accounting Standards, and Medicare contracts. The Medicare contracts require contractors to allocate or separately calculate pension costs. Contractors must use the separate calculation method if there is a material difference between the results of the two methods. Our objective was to determine the allowability of pension costs that BCBS Mississippi claimed for Medicare reimbursement for fiscal years (FYs) 1997 through 2009.