Civil monetary penalties for providers will be revised if two proposed rules from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General are approved.
The rule changes, which were sent to the Office of Management and Budget by the OIG, are needed in order to implement Affordable Care Act statutes. The ACA says the civil monetary penalties, assessments and exclusions can be levied to organizations or individuals for “failure to grant timely access to the OIG,” making false statements or omitting information from federal healthcare enrollment applications, failure to return overpayments, prescribing drugs while excluded from federal programs or for using a false record that is part of fraudulent claim.
HHS is proposing clarifying the regulations so that they are more “accessible to the public” and clarifying the liability guidelines for OIG authorities. To read the full rule, which is under RIN 0936-AA04, click here.
