Posts Tagged ‘civil monetary penalty’
OIG Gives Blessing to Gift Card Arrangement
Last month, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published an advisory opinion in which it declined to impose sanctions for an arrangement under which the requestor provides gift cards to Medicare Advantage enrollees who complete an online learning program related to potential risks, benefits, and expectations relating to surgeries. The requestor stated that the program…
Read MoreOIG Gives Okay to Cost-Sharing Subsidy in Clinical Trial
A company that makes a medical device that uses a patient’s cells to treat ischemic systolic heart failure – a life-threatening cardiac condition – would not face sanctions if it paid Medicare participants’ cost-sharing obligations they would otherwise owe for reimbursable items and services provided during the 2-year study. That was the finding of a…
Read MoreDoD Wants to Impose CMPs on Those Who Defraud TRICARE
Plagued by fraud and abuse targeting its TRICARE program, the U.S. Department of Defense, on May 1, issued a proposed rule that would allow it to impose civil monetary penalties (CMPs) against providers and suppliers who commit fraud and abuse against the TRICARE program. The new rule would create the “Military Health Care Fraud and…
Read MoreHHS Makes Changes to HIPAA Civil Monetary Penalty Caps
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a notification that it is changing the way it applies the assessment of Civil Money Penalties (CMPs) against those who violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECHâ€)…
Read MoreOIG: Complimentary In-Home Care Permitted, Despite Potential Anti-Kickback Violation
A recent advisory opinion issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General has given a medical center the go-ahead to provide free in-home care to reduce re-admissions, despite a prohibition against giving patients handouts that might influence care decisions. The OIG advisory opinion is in response to a…
Read MoreBlame it on Inflation: Civil Monetary Penalties Increase
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published an interim final rule that adjusts for inflation the maximum civil monetary penalties (CMP) that HHS agencies are authorized to assess or enforce. The changes became effective Sept. 6, and are applicable only to civil penalties assessed after Aug. 1, 2016, whose associated violations…
Read MoreFeds to increase exclusion and civil monetary penalty enforcement cases
When it comes to exclusion and civil monetary penalty cases, the federal government is preparing to take an even harder line than in the past. During the recent Health Care Compliance Association’s Healthcare Enforcement Compliance Institute, Gregory Demske, chief counsel at the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, told an audience his agency…
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