Health care summit series continues in Brooklyn, New York

As the focus on health care fraud continues within the federal government, Department of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder recently participated in the third regional health care fraud prevention summit in Brooklyn, New York.  The stated purpose of the summit was to bring together interested parties to discuss innovative ways to curtail fraud perpetrated on the U.S. health care system.  In addition to Attorney General Holder and Secretary Sebelius, who spoke of new ways to battle fraud, there were educational panels to indentify best practices in the industry.

At the summit, the Office of the Inspector General introduced A Roadmap for News Physicians: Avoiding Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Abuse which is a tool to help explain to medical students the laws that apply to physicians and how they may comply with them.  This manual is the OIG’s way of educating doctors at the beginning of their careers in order to help prevent mistakes in billing and compliance issues.

This summit was part of President Obama’s series of summits that will be held across the country in order to educate practitioners, recognize innovative solutions, and help lower the cost of healthcare by mitigating fraud on the system.  Upcoming summits will be held in Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia and Las Vegas.

Development of an effective compliance program is the best way for providers to maintain compliance with the myriad of applicable health care regulations.  If you would like to discuss implementation of a compliance program, please contact a Wachler & Associates attorney at 248-544-0888.