On February 8, 2012, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Health & Human Services issued an Alert directed at physicians who reassign their rights to bill and receive payment from Medicare. The Alert warned that physicians who reassign their rights to receive payment from Medicare may be liable for false claims submitted by the entity on behalf of the physician.

The Alert was prompted by settlements the OIG recently entered into with eight physicians who were determined to have violated the Civil Monetary Penalties Law by “causing the submission of false claims to Medicare from physical medicine companies.” In each instance, the physician reassigned their Medicare payments in exchange for Medical Director positions. The physical medicine companies, however, submitted claims for services by the physicians that were never actually performed or were not performed as billed.