The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is reporting that recovery audit contractors (RACs) collected more than $2.29 billion in overpayments in fiscal year 2012 (Oct. 2011-Dec. 2012).

RACs are CMS contractors who are tasked with detecting and correcting past improper payments from providers in all 50 states.

The $2.29 billion in overpayments collected is almost three times more than the amount of overpayments collected in fiscal year 2011, when RACs collected a little under $800 million.

The federal government remains committed to ensuring providers are properly paid. As we previously reported, the Office of Inspector General said it expects to recover about $6.9 billion from audits and investigations for FY 2012.