 (January 13, 2012) The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) expanded its focus on educating providers on key health care compliance topics in December by offering a new format for training materials. The OIG released its first video and audio compliance presentation, which introduced its upcoming series of 10 additional video/audio presentationsposted weekly on the OIG’s Web site. This is the newest component of the OIG’s Provider Compliance Training initiative. The OIG’s training materials are developed and made available to providers to further the understanding of key compliance topics and to assist providers in educating staff regarding these selected compliance topics. In its release, the OIG announced that one new educational presentation will be posted Monday of each week over the next three-months.
To date, the OIG Web site has posted four videos, each about four minutes in length, featuring key topics including the OIG’s introductory video, exclusion authorities and effects of exclusion, Federal anti-kickback statutes and false claims act. These training materials can also be printed and the materials are available in either audio or video format for providers to access. Future topics planned by the OIG for development and Web posting include the physician self-referral law, OIG guidance and resources, compliance program basics, tips for implementing an effective compliance program, the importance of documentation, OIG's self-disclosure protocol, reporting fraud to OIG and using the OIG's exclusions database.
In addition to providers directly accessing the OIG’s Web site, via http://oig.hhs.gov the OIG has developed a compliance “widget” that can be copied and imbedded into non-OIG Web sites. This widget is a direct hyperlink to the OIG Provider Compliance Training Web page. Each video/audio presentation demonstrates the prohibitions of the specific statute being discussed, along with the criminal penalties attached to non-compliance and any safe harbors that exist in the law. Access the introductory video. Here, the learner can choose to access a video, audio or written transcript presentation format for training for this and any of the other training materials posted.
Other OIG Activities
Settlement agreements have been reached with numerous providers between August and November. During this time, the OIG lists a dozen violations of Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) law where health care employees/providers allegedly employed individuals excluded from Federal health care program participation. Payments for these providers ranged from $6,000 to over $500,000. During this same time period, three provider organizations also agreed to a settlement regarding civil monetary penalties for physician self-referrals and kickbacks allegations. The CMP for these settlements ranged from $175,000 to $950.000. In addition, five providers also agreed to settlement agreements and CMP in response to allegations of violating the patient dumping statute during this same time period. These settlements ranged from $20,000 to $50,000. Each of these cases were resolved through a settlement agreement, which means the settling party contests the OIG's allegations and denies any liability but has agreed to pay the settlement agreement amount. As a result of agreeing to a settlement agreement, the OIG will not make a CMP judgment or finding of liability against the settling party.
Resources:
False and Fraudulent Claims. Retrieved here on
December 19, 2011.
Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) Provider Compliance Training Videos. Retrieved here on December 20, 2011.
Kickback and Physician Self-Referral. Retrieved here on December 20, 2011.
Patient Dumping. Retrieved here on December 19, 2011.
Podcasts. Retrieved here on December 19, 2011.
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