Washington D.C.  The Deficit Reduction Act of February 2006 imposes a January 1, 2007 deadline for companies that do at least $5 million a year in Medicaid business a requirement to educate all employees and officers on how to detect fraud, waste and abuse.  Health care providers must tell employees that if they report fraud, they will be protected against retaliation and protected against retaliation and may be entitled to a share of money recovered by the government. 

What can we do?

1. Establish written anti-fraud policies for everyone within the organization as well as contractors and outside vendors.
2. Establish specific compliance policies including “detailed information” about the False Claims Act, whistleblower protections and other requirements
3. Employee handbooks must describe the rights of employees to be protected as whistleblowers and must restate the company’s policies concerning false claims laws and the company’s internal process for preventing fraud and abuse.

Failure to meet the requirements could result in the forfeiture of all Medicaid payments during the period of noncompliance.

Solution:

Work with your compliance attorney to develop awareness and education policies and procedures.  Create communication material and programs for distribution throughout your organization and beyond.
Consider providing hotline and web reporting to allow 24 hour, 7 day a week confidential and anonymous reporting of fraud and abuse from employees, contractors and vendors.  Look for: