If a potential hire tells you their exclusion from Medicare or Medicaid has timed out, so they’re now eligible to work again, you’d better check on it. So indicates the HHS Office for Inspector General in a recent message to providers. “Reinstatement of an excluded individual or entity is not automatic,” the OIG stresses. “Those who want to participate in any federal health care program after being excluded must apply for reinstatement & receive authorized notice from HHS-OIG. Reinstatement … is not automatic.” A person “with a defined period of exclusion (e.g., 5 years, 10 years, etc.) may begin the process of reinstatement 90 days before the end of the period specified in the exclusion notice letter,” the OIG directs. See more details at https://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/reinstatement.asp.