private audit companies will begin scouring mountains of medical records ... to find over and under payments

Mar 1, 8:07 AM EST | Audits Sting Hospitals, Physicians | By KEVIN FREKING | Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In coming weeks, private audit companies will begin scouring mountains of medical records. Their mission: Determine if health care providers erred when billing Medicare and require them to return any overpayments to the federal government. The auditors will keep a tidy percentage for their services.

The contractors have shown they're pretty good at their work. In just three years, they've returned more than $300 million to the federal government - and that's just from three states. That experiment is winding down. But a larger, national program will soon take its place. ....