Excerpt of a contributed article published in Medical Economics on November 18, 2020.
Past Special Fraud Alerts have portended heightened enforcement activity.
On November 16, 2020, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert (Alert) highlighting the fraud and abuse risks posed by speaker programs sponsored by pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The Alert appears to be a clear signal to health care professionals, as well as pharmaceutical and medical device companies, that the OIG will closely scrutinize remuneration exchanged or offered as part of a speaker program under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and pursue sanctions against all parties to impermissible arrangements thereunder. Read the full article.