On March 25, 2025, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.S. (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the No Unreasonable Payments, Coding, or Diagnoses for the Elderly (No UPCODE) Act (the “Bill”)....more
4/8/2025
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Government Agencies ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Insurance Industry ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Advantage ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Risk Assessment
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing, what will amount to be, very significant Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) Audit notices for PY2018 to Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs)....more
In an indictment announced on October 26, 2023 in Miami, the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, working with the FBI and HHS-OIG, brought what may be only the second federal criminal charges...more
11/2/2023
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fee-for-Service ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Indictments ,
Medicare Advantage ,
Medicare Part C ,
Risk Adjustment Formula
On February 1, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule outlining its audit methodology and related policies for its Medicare Advantage (MA) Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV)...more
On August 30, 2021, the DOJ announced a $90 million dollar settlement with Sutter Health and affiliates (“Sutter Health”) to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations brought by qui tam relator, Kathy Ormsby, related to the...more
On August 13, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”), in a much-anticipated decision, unanimously reversed rulings by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia...more
On April 19, 2021, the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Audit Services (OAS) released the results of an audit conducted on the accuracy of diagnosis codes submitted to CMS by Humana, Inc. for 2015 dates of...more
The application of artificial intelligence technologies to health care delivery, coding and population management may profoundly alter the manner in which clinicians and others interact with patients, and seek reimbursement....more
You've likely seen the headlines. Online recruiting tools that unfairly screen out women and minorities. Facial recognition tools used in law enforcement that misidentify specific demographic groups. Algorithms that place...more
2/12/2021
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Biometric Information ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Chief Information Officers (CIO) ,
Clinical Trials ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
FDA Approval ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Life Sciences ,
Popular ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Targeted Digital Advertising ,
Webinars
This Diagnosing Health Care episode dives into the growth of physician practices accepting risk-based payments from health plans and examines why these practices are attractive to investors. Special guest Jason Madden,...more
On December 2, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published in the Federal Register companion final...more
12/21/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
On December 2, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published in the Federal Register long-awaited, companion...more
12/4/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
This Client Alert serves as the third in a three-part series in which we describe and analyze the rules proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) as part...more
10/31/2019
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Beneficiary Inducement ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
EHR ,
Fair Market Value ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Hospitals ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Request For Information ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
This Client Alert serves as the second in a three-part series in which we describe and analyze the rules proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) as part of its...more
10/22/2019
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Beneficiary Inducement ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Comment Period ,
Cybersecurity ,
EHR ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicare Shared Savings Program ,
OIG ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Value-Based Care
On October 9, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) took the next step in their Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated...more
10/14/2019
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Comment Period ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
OCR ,
Patient Self-Referral ,
Proposed Rules ,
Request For Information ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
Providers, plans, and vendors that provide services under the Medicare Advantage program, should be aware that the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) is once again...more
9/25/2018
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Hospitals ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Advantage ,
Medicare Part A ,
Medicare Part B ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Work Plans
As addressed in a previous Epstein Becker Green (“EBG”) Client Alert, earlier this summer, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published in the Federal Register a “request for information” (“RFI”) regarding...more
On June 25, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published in the Federal Register a “request for information” regarding potential reforms to the federal physician self-referral law (or the “Stark Law”). ...more
On October 3, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) to add new safe harbors to the federal health care program anti-kickback statute...more
10/21/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Ambulance Providers ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
CMP Law ,
Gainsharing ,
Hospitals ,
OIG ,
Pharmacies ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Safe Harbors
In 1998, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General ("OIG") published the Self-Disclosure Protocol ("SDP"), which provides a mechanism through which health care providers may voluntarily report...more