A dental practice and related dental management company have become the first two entities to make their way on to the newly created “High Risk – Heightened Scrutiny” list from the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the “OIG”).[1]
ImmediaDent of Indiana, LLC, a professional dental practice (“ImmediaDent”), and Samson Dental Partners, LLC, a dental management company which provides management and administrative services to ImmediaDent and other dental practices in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio (“Samson”), jointly agreed on October 31, 2018 to an approximately $5.14 Million settlement with the Department of Justice and the OIG.[2] The settlement stems from a qui tam suit brought by Dr. Jihaad Abdul-Majid, DDS, a dentist formerly employed by ImmediaDent. Dr. Abdul-Majid claimed that ImmediaDent and Samson perpetrated fraud against Indiana’s Medicaid program by way of upcoding certain tooth extraction procedures, in addition to improperly billing for tooth cleanings which were either not medically necessary or never performed. Interestingly, the settlement also involves claims that Medicaid fraud occurred in part due to Samson’s violation of Indiana’s prohibition on the corporate practice of dentistry. The theory proffered was that a pre-requisite to compliance with Indiana’s Medicaid program requirements was compliance with the law and regulations governing the practice of dentistry, including those requiring dentistry to only be practiced by licensed professionals. The government contended that Samson violated Indiana’s prohibition on the corporate practice of dentistry, and thus illegally engaged in the unlicensed practice of dentistry, by exerting undue influence over ImmediaDent’s dentists and other dental staff, including by way of rewarding production, disciplining those who did not meet production goals and directly interfering with clinical judgment.
The High Risk – Heightened Scrutiny list is a part of a new, five tier Fraud Risk Indicator system promulgated by the OIG to assess future risk posed by individuals and entities that have been alleged to have engaged in healthcare fraud.[3] The tiers range from “Low Risk – Self Disclosure” to “Highest Risk – Exclusion”. The second “riskiest” tier is “High Risk – Heightened Scrutiny”. As part of this tier, the Federal government has begun listing entities that it believes “pose a significant risk to Federal healthcare programs and beneficiaries” and further need additional oversight, but have refused the government’s request to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (“CIA”).
Though not required by statute or regulation, CIAs are typically utilized by the government as part of settlement negotiations with providers and other entities alleged to have perpetrated healthcare fraud. CIAs are structured to monitor an entity’s compliance with Federal healthcare program requirements in order to show the OIG that it should waive its authority to exclude the entity from participation in Federal healthcare programs. CIAs involve significant expense, requiring the ongoing engagement of specialized external auditors, or independent review organizations, and substantial investments in compliance systems and processes. Thus, certain entities have fought the Federal government’s attempts to impose a CIA. As a result, some have viewed the Heightened Scrutiny list as the government’s attempt to publicly shame entities who have refused to enter into a CIA.
The Heightened Scrutiny list has only formally been in place since October 1, 2018, and thus it remains to be seen if the government will actively add other entities to this list, and further whether the list will serve as a deterrent to entities considering pushing back on the government’s attempts to impose a CIA.
_____
[1] See https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/corporate-integrity-agreements/high-risk.asp.
[2] See United States ex rel. Jihaad Abdul-Majid, et al. v. ImmediaDent Specialty, P.C., et al., Civil Action No. 3:13-cv-222-CRS.
[3] See https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/corporate-integrity-agreements/risk.asp.
Blog Editors
Authors
Member of the Firm
