Background The function of state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs) is to investigate and prosecute Medicaid provider fraud and patient abuse/neglect. The Social Security Act requires each state to operate a MFCU. M...
Interested in Telehealth? So is the OIG!

Telehealth had been a small part of healthcare for many years, but the declaration of a Public Health Emergency (PHE) in 2020 accelerated both its use and scope when in-person healthcare services were simply not availabl...
Texas TULIP Challenges for Nursing Facility Administrators

The Texas Unified Licensure Information Portal (TULIP) is state’s web-based licensure system for the Health and Humans Services Commission (HHSC). TULIP was designed for licensed long-term care facilities and agencies,...
The end of the Public Health Emergency? And what comes next….

Recently, multiple organizations have urged President Biden and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to again extend the Public Health Emergency (PHE) designation and the emergency declarations currently in ...
Considering Medicare Advantage as Your Next Product Line? Things to Know…

Health plans considering Medicare Advantage or Medicaid as a new line of business need to be well informed of the greatly enhanced oversight and requirements they will face compared to state regulation of commercial plan...
Is There Stale or Ambiguous Data in SAM.gov?

As one of the two primary exclusion screening lists against which federal contractors are required to check routinely, the health care industry relies on the accuracy of SAM.gov database to make hiring and retention deci...
Apache’s Log4j Vulnerability – A Sobering Message to Congress

On February 8, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held a full hearing to address the Log4j software vulnerability made public in November of 2021 and to better understand the status of re...
Contractor Cyber-Security Fraud Now Subject to False Claims Act Penalties

In October 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative leveraging the federal False Claims Act (FCA) to address cybersecurity-related fraud by government contractors. According to the&n...
The Role of OFAC in U.S. Sanctions of Russia

The recent events in Ukraine have resulted in an unprecedented imposition of crippling financial sanctions against Russia by the United States, the European Union and multiple countries around the globe. For the U.S., th...