October 5, 2001

HHS OIG Issues 2002 Work Plan

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Oct. 1 issued its FY 2002 Work Plan describing projects that the OIG will pursue during FY 2002. It can also help guide institutions in determining areas in which they may be at most risk for a government audit. All institutions should review the complete Work Plan. Among the projects listed are:

• Medical Education Payments: to evaluate the "efficiency of controls over Medicare payments for medical education." The OIG will visit fiscal intermediaries and providers "to determine the validity of claims for these payments." The Work Plan states that the OIG's pilot review "disclosed problems in computing full-time equivalents for interns and residents."
• Billing for Residents' Services: to determine "whether hospitals have properly used residents' physician identification numbers to bill Medicare."
• Medicare Payments for Clinical Trials: to determine "whether Medicare payments associated with clinical trials were made in accordance with program requirements." This will include an assessment of "program safeguards related to clinical trial claim processing requirements."

Information: Ivy Baer, AAMC Division of Health Care Affairs, 202-828-0490.