Foley & Lardner LLP partner Judith Waltz commented on the joint working group established between the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services to examine health care fraud in the Report on Medicare Compliance article, “DOJ/HHS Revives FCA Working Group; Fusion Center Is Also Announced.”
The working group will weigh the suspension of HHS payments in considered matters, including Medicare payments, which Waltz said can have major consequences for health care providers and suppliers.
“As defined by 42 C.F.R. § 405.370, a Medicare payment suspension is the withholding of payment by a Medicare contractor from a provider or supplier of an approved Medicare payment amount before a determination of the amount of the overpayment exists, or until the resolution of an investigation of a credible allegation of fraud,” Waltz wrote in a Foley Health Care Law Today blog cited in the article.
“It sounds like they will continue the course,” Waltz added, noting that HHS and DOJ attorneys referenced other areas of interest at a recent American Health Law Association meeting, including intellectual property and organ procurement organizations.
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