Revising OIG’s Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol Solicitation for Information and Recommendations
AGENCY: Office of Inspector General (OIG), HHS.
ACTION: Notice and Opportunity for Comment.
SUMMARY: This Federal Register notice informs the public that OIG:
(1) Intends to update the Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol (63 FR 58399, October 30, 1998) and
(2) solicits input from the public for OIG to consider in updating the Protocol. DATES: To ensure consideration, public comments must be delivered to the address provided below by no later than 5 p.m. on August 17, 2012.
Background: In 1998, OIG published the Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol (the Protocol) to establish a process for health care providers to disclose potential fraud involving the Federal health care programs. The Protocol provides guidance on how to investigate this conduct, quantify damages, and report the conduct to OIG to resolve the provider’s liability exposure under OIG’s civil money penalty (CMP) authorities.
Over the past 14 years, we have resolved over 800 disclosures, resulting in recovering over $280 million to the Federal health care programs. Through our experience in resolving Protocol matters, we identified areas where additional guidance would be beneficial to the provider community and would improve the efficient resolution of Protocol matters. Specifically, we issued three Open Letters to Health Care Providers to address some of these issues.
First, in 2006 we announced an initiative to encourage disclosure of conduct creating liability under OIG’s antikickback and physician self-referral law CMP authorities.
