Report on Medicare Compliance 29, no. 13 (April 6, 2020)
◆ During the coronavirus pandemic, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) is “trying to minimize the burdens on providers,” said Christi Grimm, principal deputy inspector general, March 30 at the Health Care Compliance Association’s Compliance Institute. In her message to providers on minimizing burdens,[1] posted the same day, Grimm explained that “health care organizations that need extensions of OIG deadlines, such as to produce data for an OIG review or to comply with a Corporate Integrity Agreement, are encouraged to ask their OIG contact. OIG will work with organizations on a reasonable solution.” OIG will continue to plan new work and carry out its oversight mission, she noted.
◆ The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said April 2 it won’t impose penalties for certain HIPAA Privacy Rule violations by providers or their business associates stemming from good-faith uses and disclosures of protected health information “for public health and health oversight activities during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency.”[2]
◆ In a new compliance provider review,[3] OIG said Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, was overpaid $590,646 in 2016 and 2017 for errors on 49 claims. OIG extrapolated the overpayment finding to $3.3 million for the audit period. Most of the overpayment was for incorrectly billed inpatient rehabilitation facility claims, OIG contended. In a written response, Forbes Hospital said it disagreed with OIG’s findings.