OIG screening confirms whether the individual(doctors, nurses and other medical staff) or entity(vendors) is excluded from participating in the federal healthcare programs. OIG or the Office of Inspector General has a list of all excluded individuals and entities also referred to as LEIE. It is important for healthcare providers to screen employees before hiring them. Screening vendors is also equally important before signing any contract. According to the official website, the healthcare firm may have to pay Civil Monetary Penalties if the hired employee or the contracted vendor is on the excluded list. In addition to the monetary loss, there are high risks of losing reputation and potential fraud. Due to these reasons, frequent and accurate OIG screening is highly recommended for healthcare providers.
The immediate effect of being in the LEIE(List of Excluded Individuals/Entities) is the termination of financial support from all federal and state programs. Including funds provided by Medicare, Medicaid and other state-funded programs.
Reason for Exclusion
OIG has the authority to exclude individuals and entities if they are associated with the following:
- Found guilty in Medicare or Medicaid Fraud
- Frauds related to the items and services that come under Medicare or State healthcare programs
- If they are convicted of any other health-related fraud or thefts
- Illegal or Unlawful distribution, manufacturing and prescribing of Controlled substances/drugs
- If their licenses for practising healthcare are revoked due to their inability to work professionally or any other valid reasons
- If they are found misbehaving with the patients or ignoring the patient’s need
There may be other reasons for the exclusion that are not included in the list. Officials strictly advise routinely checking the official database to get the updated list of excluded individuals/entities.
Save Yourself from Potential Frauds with OIG Screening
An OIG Background check ensures that you are not hiring any individual on the LEIE(List of Excluded Individuals/Entities). The individuals on the list may be convicted of medical fraud or any other federal offence. Hiring such individuals can put your healthcare organisation at risk of fraud and scams. Not only are they dangerous for your organisation, but these individuals also pose a great threat to the patients and their health. OIG may exclude a medical student or medical professional because of their inability to work professionally. That is precisely why, their presence is also a potential threat to a patient’s health.
Noncompliance with OIG Check – Know the Risks
OIG excludes individuals or entities from participating in healthcare activities that receive federal funding. There are different possible reasons for being on the list including Medicare or Medicaid fraud or participating in other unlawful activities. Therefore, hiring excluded employees or contracting with an excluded vendor is dangerous. The organisation is exposed to the following potential risks if it fails to do a proper OIG check on employees and vendors.
- Loss of Reputation
- The organisation may lose its reputation by working with people and vendors that are present in the excluded lists. Because, these excluded entities and individuals are possibly associated with medical fraud, federal fraud or other unlawful activities. In the medical field building trust with patients is quite difficult as people generally do not trust others with their health and well-being. Therefore, when your organisation’s name is joined with excluded entities, it can significantly harm your reputation. Which also results in losing the trust of your patients.
- Hiring Non-qualified Doctors and Nurses
- Another major reason for exclusion is the inability to perform professional duties. A doctor, nurse or other medical employee can get excluded by the OIG if they are accused of misbehaving or lack professional qualities. In case, the organisation fails to perform OIG background checks, they may hire these excluded individuals. This can significantly decrease the quality of their services and put their patient’s safety in danger.
- Civil Money Penalties
- This is the most vital point to consider before contracting or hiring excluded individuals and entities. According to the law, if a healthcare provider hires an excluded individual or works with an excluded entity, they are liable to pay Civil Money Penalties(CMPs). The liable CMPs can get up to $10,000 per federal service or item claimed by the excluded person or vendor. The actual amount of penalties and fines can get higher depending on the severity of the violation.
Why Screening Your Vendors is Equally Important?
Vendors in the healthcare sector refer to entities that provide goods and services to the healthcare organisation. If the vendor is on the LEIE(list of excluded individuals/entities), it indicates that goods and services are not safe and unreliable. It is also possible that these individuals were involved with federal fraud and other unlawful activities. Contracting or working with these vendors can harm the quality of your organisation’s services. In case an organisation is found working with such vendors, they will have to face legal charges and termination of federal funds. In addition, the organisation might have to pay civil monetary penalties(CMPs) and other fines as required by the law.
All these facts emphasise the significance of Vendor screening for healthcare providers. It can save them from potential fraud and reduce the risk of getting poor-quality products and services.
Venops for OIG screening – Save Your Time with Automated Monthly Screening
You can perform OIG screening and background checks on your own. However, these screenings and checks are quite complex and require considerable time and effort. Also, the officials recommend performing OIG checks monthly. These monthly checks for current employees and new hires can cost significant working hours. Therefore, you should trust Venops to perform the OIG compliance screening and save your vital time. To give you an estimate, we have saved more than 36,000 hours for our clients this year.
Reasons to Trust Us
- We provide screening of Vendors(entities) without any additional cost
- We offer automated monthly screening with updated lists of sanctions and exclusions With this service, we will screen the most updated list of individuals(staff) and entities(vendors) and match them with the up-to-date official database of the OIG
- To ensure precision and accuracy, our screening process always includes experienced professionals
- Our services are made for convenience, therefore they are easy to use.
- Our popularity also comes from the prices we offer, which are reasonable and affordable