Home Health & Hospice Week

You may want to hop on an opportunity to prepare for a visit from the feds.

The HHS Office of Inspector General is offering free half-day compliance training sessions in six cities -- Houston, Tampa, Kansas City, Baton Rouge, Denver, and Washington, D.C. The Houston session kicks off the program on Feb. 16 and the last session is in D.C. on May 18.

This is a new tactic from the government watchdog agency, notes attorney Robert Markette with Gilliland & Markette in Indianapolis. "It is great that they are attempting to take a more proactive approach and educating providers, instead of just prosecuting," Markette praises. "It is also nice that they are free."

However, given the OIG sessions' limited availability, the OIG's effort may be more symbolic than practical. And the half-day time limit means the amount of useful information given may be small, Markette says.

Despite the limitations, "attending the government program could be useful, just to see what they have to say on these topics," Markette points out. "It is always a good idea to know where they are coming from and what they think."

Heads up: And the effort should put providers on notice that the OIG is getting serious about its compliance focus.

"This announcement is another warning to providers," Markette tells Eli. "If you don't have a compliance program or haven't done much with it in awhile, you should start working on it now."

Providers seeking more in-depth compliance training can turn to industry and trade group sources, Markette offers. For a list of Eli-sponsored educational sessions by Markette on topics such as Recovery Audit Contractors and home health-long term care compliance trouble spots, go to www.audioeducator.com and select the "Home Health" link in the "Select Conference" box.

More information about the OIG sessions is at http://compliance.oig.hhs.gov/enrollment.html. Space is limited, the OIG notes.