On November 2, 2015, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2016 (“2016 Work Plan”).1 The 2016 Work Plan outlines the areas of special concern to the OIG and describes the enforcement and monitoring initiatives the OIG will pursue in Fiscal Year 2016 in connection with its oversight of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and other agencies of HHS. The OIG’s mission is to protect the integrity, quality and safety of HHS programs while also reducing fraud, waste and abuse of those programs through various enforcement and monitoring initiatives. Companies in the health care industry should be aware of the OIG’s initiatives when planning their business strategies, internal audits and compliance efforts for the year.

The OIG 2016 Work Plan included several new initiatives as well as a number of revised initiatives from the previous year. Many of the activities outlined in the 2015 Work Plan are repeated with updates in the 2016 Work Plan. This indicates that the initiatives from last year’s Work Plan remain high priorities and areas of special concern to the OIG for 2016.