Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General published its annual notice soliciting recommendations for the safe harbor provisions under the federal anti-kickback statute, along with new OIG Special Fraud Alerts.
In accordance with HIPPA regulations, the OIG will consider proposals for new or modified safe harbor provisions that could impact access to healthcare services, quality of healthcare services, patient freedom of choice among healthcare providers, competition among healthcare providers, the cost to federal healthcare programs, the potential overutilization of healthcare services and the ability of healthcare facilities to provide services in medically underserved areas or populations.
The OIG also periodically issues Special Fraud Alerts to provide insight into practices the OIG finds potentially fraudulent or abusive. Additional Special Fraud Alerts would be considered based on the impacts listed under safe harbor considerations along with the volume and frequency of conduct that would be identified in the alerts. Federal Register (.pdf)