Charmaine Mech

Oct 10, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Charmaine Mech

On September 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) posted a report entitled, “Additional Oversight of Remote Patient Monitoring in Medicare is Needed.”The OIG found that Medicare usage of remote patient monitoring has increased significantly in recent years, particularly between 2019 and 2022. The most common conditions for which Medicare enrollees received remote patient monitoring services were hypertension (55%) and diabetes (16%).

Mar 19, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Charmaine Mech

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) announced multiple new OIG Work Plan Items, including two audits, focused on identifying and quantifying improper Medicare and Medicaid claims for diabetes drugs prescribed for weight loss. This new focus area comes as no surprise given the recent meteoric rise in popularity of diabetes drugs, such as Ozempic, for weight loss.

Feb 29, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Lanchi Nguyen Bombalier |Charmaine Mech

Since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) paused much of its audit activity during the COVID Public Health Emergency, the most recent rounds of Medicare audit activity may represent the first “look” at the new Election Statement forms that many hospice providers adopted under the new Medicare election statement requirements effective in October 2020.

Oct 26, 2023 | jdsupra.com | David Blank |Charmaine Mech

On September 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued an unfavorable Advisory Opinion No. 23-06 related to a proposed arrangement involving purchasing the technical component of anatomic pathology services paid for by commercial payors, concluding that the arrangement could generate prohibited remuneration under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”).