Many nursing homes and other healthcare providers must inform staff about whistleblower protections starting this week.

Specifically, healthcare providers who receive Medicaid payments totaling $5 million or more per year are now required to provide information to their staff on the federal False Claims Act and its whistleblower protections, according to new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This guidance went into effect on Monday.

The information may be in written or electronic form. If a provider already gives an employee handbook to its staff, whistleblower information must be included.