Government
Updated guidance for hospital voluntary compliance programs
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 14, 2005
In an effort to continue promoting voluntary compliance programs at hospitals, the Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General in January updated its guidance on how to design effective programs.
The update, "OIG Supplemental Compliance Program Guidance for Hospitals," identifies additional fraud and abuse risk areas for hospitals that participate in Medicare and other federal health programs.
The supplement also takes into account the changes to hospital payment systems and other industry practices that have evolved since the OIG released the original document in 1998.
Risk areas that are discussed include the physician self-referral law, the federal anti-kickback statute and relationships between hospitals and physicians.
More information is on the OIG's Web site (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/02/14/gvbf0214.htm.
