Inspector general's office outlines target areas

HHS' inspector general's office has posted its work plan for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, outlining in a 128-page document the areas of new and ongoing interest to the agency tasked with rooting out fraud, waste and abuse from the department's programs. Among hospital matters included in the plan are the reliability of quality data reported to the CMS, conditions coded as “present on admission,” readmissions and adverse events. The plan includes a 15-page appendix describing projects that will scrutinize the billions of stimulus dollars injected into HHS programs by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. They include reviews of the CMS' compliance with new breach-notification rules for personally identifiable information; payments subsidizing adoption of electronic health records; and states' compliance with conditions for receiving extra Medicaid funds, which require an increased local match and a commitment not to tighten eligibility standards for the coverage. To view the entire work plan to go http://oig.hhs.gov/08/Work_Plan_FY_2010.pdf