Section 302 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 makes the CMS Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Program permanent and requires the Secretary to expand the program to all 50 states by no later than 2010. Congress authorized the RACs for the purpose of identifying underpayments and overpayments, and recouping overpayments under part A or B of the Medicare program. Under this authority, Congress provided for payments to the RACs on a contingent basis for detecting and correcting overpayments and underpayments. Correcting includes both collecting overpayments from providers and refunding underpayments to providers.

Each RAC will be responsible for identifying overpayment and underpayments in approximately ¼ of the country. The new RAC jurisdictions match the DME MAC jurisdictions.

Courses in this curriculum include program overviews, specific action plans that facilities and practices can take to try to avoid being hit too hard by these new "bounty hunters", and detailed information on what DRGs and claim types the RACs will likely be targeting during the permanent program.