Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Plus: Medicare payment suspension is serious business. The OIG recently asked medical schools whether they would like the OIG to provide educational materials in teaching medical students about fraud and abuse, and the overwhelming majority responded with a resounding "yes!" In response to the request, the agency has published a new document to help physicians stay on the straight and narrow. The new publication, entitled "Roadmap for New Physicians: Avoiding Medicare and Medicaid Fraud and Abuse" summarizes the five main federal fraud and abuse laws, and offers tips regarding how doctors can comply with the laws. Those five laws are the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, the Exclusion Statute, and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. The document isn't just for medical students -- if you feel you could use a refresher on any of these fraud and abuse topics, check out the OIG's Roadmap at http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/PhysicianEducation.