The dentistry was rotten; the teeth were not. If there was ever a practice worthy of exclusion, Small Smiles Dentistry for Children was it. Â To quote just one of the many reports released about the now-infamous chain: ...
Excluded Ambulance Drivers: Whose Responsibility?

Four Jacksonville, FL hospitals have agreed to pay a combined $7.5 million settlement for crimes that they did not commit. Jacksonville Business Journal reports that the four -- Baptist Health, which runs four hospitals...
Beware the Housekeeper

The OIG has been known to go after all types of healthcare professionals, but... the housekeeper? Yes, indeed. Itasca County, Minnesota, and its nursing home, the Itasca Nursing Home d/b/a Grand Village (Itasca), a cou...
Confused about state exclusions? So is the OIG.

With state officials still in the dark over applications of the law, healthcare organizations grapple with the risks of single-state exclusion screening. "Yes, you do have to. No, you don’t. Well, you don’t, but...
Why They Self Disclosed

Of all the penalties issued this year by the OIG in response to healthcare organizations that employed excluded individuals, all but three were the result of self-disclosures. Which kind of makes you wonder: Why? Why ...
Is Your Partner Excluded? Doctors, Take Note.

 An attorney with HHS’ Office of Inspector General said Thursday that the OIG is hiring additional lawyers to look into taking more administrative actions against doctors. They're looking for the types of questionab...
Texas OIG Trumps All Others in Issuing Fines for Employment of Excluded Individuals

Is the Texas OIG more aggressive than other states? More efficient? More serious? Maybe all of the above. Although all state OIGs have an equal mandate to discover and prosecute medical facilities who have employed o...
Can You Provide Incentives for Exclusive Lab Arrangements?

At the end of last month, the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, issued an advisory opinion for all healthcare compliance officers -- but really, anyone involved...
Why One Doctor Just Ended Up on the OIG Exclusion List

Anyone working in the field of healthcare human resources should understand the role of the Office of the Inspector General in both investigating fraud related to federal health care programs and penalizing health organi...