Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Tip: Protect yourself with thorough documentation.

Even with regulatory relief, your practice may be struggling to deal with pandemic fallout. Now, you have another worry to add to your plate. The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) added a mother lode of new action items to its Work Plan last month — many related to COVID-19 relief efforts.

Details: OIG reeled back its Work Plan targets in September with only four new active items — but October was a busy month. At press time, the agency had posted 21 additions that run the enforcement gamut from skilled nursing facility (SNF) oversight to telehealth snafus to provider relief audits. And though the active items cover a variety of topics, many have one thing in common: COVID-19.

Some of the audits now under OIG’s watchful eye include:

• The CMS telehealth expansion during the public health emergency (PHE) to circumvent the spread of COVID-19
• COVID-19 testing data and protocols across several federal agencies
• Provider Relief Funding (PRF) payments offered to providers for uninsured individuals through Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
• Medicare providers’ compliance and attestations as related to PRF distributions through HRSA

Review the OIG’s Work Plan at https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/workplan/active-item-table.asp.