Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Clash with the HHS Office of Inspector General and you could find yourself touted on the agency's Web page - even if the tussle is an administrative action that gets settled, historically a much lower-profile contretemps with the feds than, say, a full out False Claims Act action. OIG chief Janet Rehnquist unveiled a new enforcement section on the OIG Web site March 18 as part of the agency's ongoing effort to enhance public outreach to the provider community and others. The "Fraud Prevention and Detection" section touts recent OIG cases that result in either criminal prosecutions or civil monetary penalty actions on a wide range of purported misconduct. Entries include cases involving alleged misdeeds ranging from kickbacks to violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. While the summaries thus far don't name individuals, they do supply business names and locations. Lesson Learned: Providers trying to keep tabs on federal enforcement efforts have one more place to turn - but when it comes to fraud-fighting efforts, the OIG's latest resource is just the tip of the iceberg. To see the new resource, go to http://oighhs.gov/fraud/enforcementactions.html.