OIG’s report to Congress profiles plenty of activity, including the ongoing battle against the opioid abuse epidemic. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is in the business of rooting out “fraud, waste, and abuse” in the nation’s healthcare system, to echo the…
Most of those accused of wrongdoing are medical professionals. The national opioid crisis has hit the heart of Appalachia particularly hard, and federal authorities are pulling out the stops in fighting it. U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex M.…
Two dozen individuals were charged in a landmark investigation historic in breadth. “A million dollars isn’t cool,” remarked pop star Justin Timberlake in the Oscar-winning 2010 film The Social Network, portraying entrepreneur Sean Parker as he advises a young Mark Zuckerberg and his associates in a nightclub amid the fledgling…
April 4, 2019
OIG Inspector Daniel Levinson Resigns
The head of the federal healthcare oversight body was a popular guest on Monitor Mondays. Daniel Levinson, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is stepping down from his post at the end of May, following nearly 15 years in his position as healthcare’s top…
February 7, 2019
CMS Audit Performance Gauged in HHS OIG Announcement
CMS squeaks by with B-plus in OIG audit. If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) received a grade for its audit performance during the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, it would have been about a B-plus, maybe waived up to an A-minus, according to an announcement made recently…
January 24, 2019
OIG: CMS Did Not Always Resolve Audit Recommendations
CMS audit performance gauged in HHS OIG announcement. If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) received a grade for its audit performance during the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, it would have been about a B-plus, maybe waived up to an A-minus, according to an announcement made this…
December 13, 2018
Actelion Pharmaceuticals Pays $360 Million to Settle Allegations of Kickbacks to Patients: Lessons Learned
Medicare patients were specifically excluded from the program. The U.S. Justice Department announced on Dec. 6 that Actelion Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $360 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks by giving contributions to the Caring Voice Coalition, a charitable organization that then used the contributions to pay…
December 6, 2018
Suspicion Arises: All Errors, All the Time
100% error rate audits challenge credibility. Over the past five or six years, I have worked as a statistical expert on hundreds of extrapolation audits. And at least a couple dozen of these were based on 100 percent error rates. That means that the auditor determined that, of all of…
November 29, 2018
Medicare Disadvantage: The Down and Dirty of Capitation
OIG report cites widespread MAO problems related to denials of care and payment. Medicare and Medicaid are moving steadily into a capitated model system – or should I say, “have moved.” A central concern about the capitated payment model used in Medicare Advantage is the financial incentive for Medicare Advantage…
November 16, 2018
News Alert: OIG Poised to Conduct DRG Validation Audits
OIG discusses plans in 2018 Work Plan update The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced on Thursday that the agency, along with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has noted “problems” with upcoding in hospital billing to increase payment. As…
Connect with Us
Top Stories
Advisors
Editorial Board
-
Allen Jost, PhDAlvin Gore, MD, CHCQM and Cathi Charlberg, LVN, CHCQMAmanda Gilliland, RN, BSNAndrew B. Wachler, Esq.Andrew H. Hughes, MD and Charles Locke, MD, CHCQM-PHYADVAndrew Wachler, Esq., and Sarah Hillegonds, Esq.Angela Phillips, PTBarbara Vandegrift, RN, BSN, MABecky Rodrian, CPC, CEMC, CBCS, MBSBrian T. LandryChristina Panos, RHIA, CTRChristopher Halleman, DOChristopher J. Laney, Esq.Chuck BuckDaniel Zirkman, MDDavid M. Glaser, Esq.Denise Nash, MD, CCS, CIMDheeraj Mahajan, MD, FACPDuane Abbey, PhD, CFPEdward Roche, PhD, JDElizabeth C. Dunbar, MD, MBA, FACEP, CHCQM-PHYADVEllen Fink-Samnick MSW, ACSW, LCSW, CCM, CRPErica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDSErin Diesel Roumayah, Esq.Frank D. Cohen, MPA, MBBGloryanne Bryant, RHIA, RHIT, CCS, CCDSGreg FordHolly Louie, RN, CHBMEJ. Paul Spencer, CPC, COCJanelle Ali-Dinar, PhDJeffrey D. Lehrman DPM, FASPS, MAPWCAJessica Forster, Esq.John K. Hall, MD, JD, MBAJuliet B. Ugarte Hopkins, MD, CHCQM-PHYADVKathleen K. Borchard, BSN, RN-ACMKathy Seward, MD, CHCQM-PHYADVKim T. Charland, BA, RHIT, CCSKnicole C. Emanuel Esq.Kristi Pollard, RHIT, CCS, CPC, CIRCC, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainerLaurie M. Johnson, MS, RHIA, FAHIMALori O’Hara, MA, CCC-SLPMark SpiveyMarvin D Mitchell, RN, BSN, MBAMary Beth Pace, RN, BSN, MBA, ACM, CMACMary Inman, Esq. and Max Voldman, Esq.Max Voldman, Esq.
