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Physicians should screen employees against the OIG exclusion list
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WAILEA, Hawaii — Physicians should frequently screen their employees against the Office of Inspector General exclusion list, according to a speaker here.
“These are individuals who have been excluded by Medicare from participating in the Medicare program or any federal health care program,” Alan Reider, JD, MPH, said at the Hawaiian Eye 2015 meeting.
Alan Reider
If a physician learns that a member of their staff has been placed on the list, the physician can make a voluntary disclosure to the OIG and offer to pay a settlement.
“If you make a voluntary disclosure, the government will thank you for your honesty and integrity by imposing a penalty on double your salary and benefits to that individual multiplied by pro rata portion of the Medicare revenue you generated over your Medicare patients,” Reider said.
The OIG does not automatically take names off the exclusion list, the individual will have to make an active request to be taken off the list.
“There is no guarantee that you will be [taken off the list], the government will check to make sure there are no other problems out there.”
Do not try to ignore the problem, Reider said.
“You will get hit with much more severe sanctions because it is potentially up to $10,000 per service that this individual was involved in,” Reider said.
Reider’s advice on dealing with the exclusion list is to check the list frequently and have the employee who is on the list stop providing services to federal program patients.
Physicians can check if their employees are on the exclusion list by visiting http://exclusions.oig.hhs.gov. – by Nhu Te
Disclosure: Reider reports no relevant financial disclosures.