Due diligence compliance review

Q. What should a seller expect during the due diligence compliance review? A. Buyers will perform a compliance review that looks at 100% of your respiratory files and generally a sample of your DME files. During this inspection, they'll examine delivery tickets, assignment of benefits forms, privacy notice acknowledgements, scripts, CMN/POs, test results and follow-up criteria such as physician and beneficiary letters for bipaps. The most common problem areas are incomplete third party signor information; no date last seen; test results that do not match the CMN; incomplete CMNs; and changes not initialed and dated by the physician. If any of these problems surface during due diligence, you'll be expected to correct them before the close — if they don't scare the buyer off. Whatever you do: never try to create information. That could qualify as fraud, and if a potential buyer suspects fraud, it is almost always a deal killer. Prior to putting your company on the market, hire a consultant or attorney to perform a complete review of your patient files. Many brokers already require companies to do this. The goal here is to discover problem areas and correct them in a compliant and ethical manner before the buyer preforms due diligence. Cleaning up your house ahead of time will help ensure that your negotiations with the buyer go smoothly. It also will improve the chances that you'll get your asking price or close to it. --- Reach Angela Miller at Medical Auditing Solutions: 972-459-1508 or medaudsolutions@aol.com