Two Recent OIG Reports We're Reading: Telehealth and Medicare Advantage Data

Two Recent OIG Reports We're Reading: Telehealth and Medicare Advantage Data The OIG recently released a report that details responses from 320 hospitals, with several hospitals reporting they're having a hard time balancing complex care for COVID-19 patients and efforts to resume routine care. One of the hospitals said it predicts a “tsunami of people going forward” who are experiencing the long-term effects of the coronavirus. Digital health integration is a priority of both providers and payers, after a dramatic 3,060% growth in telehealth claims from October 2019 to October 2020. As a result, the OIG is staying vigilant when it comes to the risks of fraud in telehealth, while ensuring the potential benefits of telehealth are realized for patients, providers, and HHS programs. Check out our blog post on the OIG’s recent telehealth statement and how to ensure your telehealth services uphold program integrity and protect patients. HHS OIG also released its second report on the absence of ordering providers' NPI numbers from Medicare Advantage encounter data. Recommendations for CMS include requiring NPIs moving forward, which could have a downstream effect on provider claims submission. Read our blog for the highlights.