Home Health & Hospice Week

Ignorance isn't bliss when it comes to excluded employees. Ending up on the HHS Office of Inspector General's excluded list can be easier than most home care providers think. And if the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or your accrediting body find out you've hired an excluded individual, you could be at risk for more surveys. If you're not checking potential employees' backgrounds with the OIG, you might be setting your organization up for major problems. Here's what to look for. The OIG can exclude individuals and entities from participating in federal programs if they have been convicted of certain offenses, sanctioned by other governmental agencies -- or if they participated in "inappropriate activities" related to provision of health care items and services. Federal health programs include Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, Veterans Affairs, and all other programs that provide health benefits and are funded directly, in whole or in part, by [...]