Healthicity Blog

Many of us have heard the phrase that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. It seems this is proving true with a couple of recent healthcare compliance settlements.

An OIG Special Agent, ZPIC Contractor, and U.S. Attorney all walk into a bar…Except they didn’t actually walk into a bar. But, they did recently walk into a Congressional hearing to offer testimony on healthcare fraud and abuse investigative efforts. What they had to say was pretty interesting.

It’s finally here. The long awaited Final Rule from CMS for Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities was recently published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016 (Fed. Reg. Vol. 81, No. 192 pages 68688-68872).

According to OCR, Care New England Health System (CNE) has common ownership or control of over 8 covered entity hospitals or clinics in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Lexington Medical Center in South Carolina recently settled for $17 million to resolve allegations that its incentives with physicians violated Stark and Anti-kickback law violations.

A Jacksonville, FL area pain clinic, Coastal Spine and Pain, recently settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $7.4 million

We’ve highlighted the significance of this case in previous webinars and blog posts, but now we know that it’s at least $3 million dollars more significant than it was before.

It’s not unusual to read about large, multi-million dollar settlements for alleged healthcare fraud and abuses.