Here’s a Breakdown of the Latest Enforcement Numbers
Published on Tue Jul 13, 2021
PDF
Compare and contrast the last two reporting period stats during COVID.
Despite being in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) was awfully busy racking up its enforcement numbers.
![](https://www.aapc.com/codes/webroot/upload/articles_pdf/2021/pbi/2021-07-13_14-15-52.webp)
In the latest Semiannual Report to Congress, which covers Oct. 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021, the national watchdog didn’t let the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) get in the way of its significant oversight or enforcement duties. Take a look at the statistics over the six-month timeframe as well as comparisons with the prior period (April 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2020), according to data from the last two OIG briefs:
- Audits: OIG released 75 audit reports and 20 evaluations. These figures were down from the previous reporting period — April 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2020 — in which OIG issued 97 audit reports and 27 evaluations.
- Expected recoveries: The agency’s audit work was substantial, with expected recoveries at $566.46 million. The agency did not list questioned costs in the latest report.
- Investigative recoveries: OIG anticipated its investigative recoveries at $1.37 billion during the reporting period, which was slightly down from the previous six-month reporting period amount of $1.62 billion.
- Criminal actions: According to the report, OIG brought criminal actions against 221 individuals and entities. This was up from 181 criminal actions for the April 2020 to Sept. 2020 duration.
- Civil actions: OIG levied civil actions against 272 individuals and entities compared to 421 civil actions in the prior six-month reporting period.
- Exclusions: The feds excluded 1,036 individuals and entities from federal healthcare programs between Oct. 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, while 1,245 exclusions occurred during the previous reporting cycle.
Resource: Find the report at https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/archives/semiannual/2021/2021-spring-sar.pdf.