According to a recent report issued by the Centers for the Medicare & Medicaid Services, recovery audit contractors (RACs) identified and collected nearly $398 billion in overpayments during the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.

Nearly $25 million in underpayments were returned during the same time period - which covered October through December of last year - bringing the total corrections to $422.7 million. Since the program began, $1.45 billion in corrections have been made.

Moreover, last quarter saw the largest recovery of improper payments in one quarter since the RAC program began, according to Delaware Democratic Senator Tom Carper, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management.

"This report shows that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Recovery Audit Contractors program is on track to double the amount of recovered overpayments this year compared to last year," said Carper in a recent statement. "That's remarkable progress in just a few months."

However, Carper noted that there is still a lot of work to be done, regarding both identifying improper payments and preventing them from being made in the first place.