The HHS Office of Inspector General - OIG - In Brief - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, regulation of safe harbor and fraud alerts - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, Feb, 2002

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) published in the December 19, 2001, Federal Register, its annual request for recommendations to create new, or modify existing, safe harbor provisions and special fraud alerts. A safe harbor specifies payment and business practices that, while on their face violate the antikickback statute, benefit the healthcare delivery system and, thus, are, not sanctioned. Special fraud alerts are guidance to providers about practices that the OG finds potentially fraudulent or abusive and, thus, are likely to be primary focuses of the agency's oversight. The healthcare industry should take advantages of this important opportunity to affect HHS enforcement policies. Comments are due February 10, 2002. Also, Appendix F of the OIG'S recently released semiannual report contains a status update on comments from last year's notice. To read the report, go to http://oig.hhs.gov/semann/01fsemi.pdf.>