Highmark Medicare Services, Inc., Did Not Claim Some Allowable Nonqualified Defined-Benefit Plan Pension Costs for Fiscal Years 2003 Through 2009

摘要

Medicare contractors are eligible to be reimbursed a portion of their nonqualified defined-benefit plan (NQDBP) pension costs, which are funded by the annual contributions that these contractors make to their pension plans. The amount of pension costs that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimburses to the contractors is determined by the cost reimbursement principles contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), and Medicare contracts. Previous Office of Inspector General reviews found that Medicare contractors did not always comply with Federal requirements when claiming pension costs for Medicare reimbursement. The objective of this review was to determine whether the NQDBP pension costs claimed by Highmark Medicare Services, Inc. (Highmark), for Medicare reimbursement for fiscal years (FYs) 2003 through 2009 were allowable and correctly claimed.