News — Corporate Compliance Plan

When a dentist or DSO (or any other healthcare entity) get busted for Fraud, Waste or Abuse (FWA) issues the government may decline criminal prosecution in favor of a civil settlement known as a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA). There is much to unpack about CIAs. Here is what I know: Corporate Integrity Agreements have become a favorite tool of the federal government. You can gain valuable insights on how to protect your practice by reading CIAs (and other government enforcement actions). Every CIA includes requirements that the organization incorporate the OIG’s seven core elements (8 if you're a New Yorker)...

A movie called Fools Rush In came out in 1997 (worth noting this was over 20 years ago). Three years later in October 2000 the federal Office of the Inspector General (OIG) established written compliance program guidelines for Individual and Small Group Physician Practices. The OIG’s compliance guidelines outline seven elements as voluntary measures individual and small group physician practice (and dental practices) should implement in effort to demonstrate their commitment to prevent criminal fraud and a high level of corporate integrity.    The seven elements include:  1.     Implementing written policies, procedures and standards of conduct. 2.     Designating a compliance officer and...

Sometimes when you mess up – and that mess up involves Medicare, Medicaid, or funds from another government healthcare program – not only do you have to fix the mess, but you may also have to go back and make amends to limit your liability and hedge against civil and/or criminal prosecution later. Hospitals do it. Physician groups do it. Ambulance providers do it. Home health does it. What? Get busted for coding, documentation, and billing problems. The federal government developed the Self-Disclosure Protocol (“SDP”) for healthcare providers to be able to bring themselves forward to the government in a...

I put out a lot of TOP NOTCH compliance content from this blog to the podcast, "Talking with the ToothCop." I know a lot of you benefit from this content, but some of you might not know what we do....cause let's face it, writing blogs and yakking on a podcast, don't pay the bills. So here's a short synopsis of what we do for our clients and how we keep the lights on here at DCS.  1. Who do we work with at Dental Compliance Specialists? We work with dentists young and old. We work with small solo-dentist practices, dental group...

Michael Gerber in The ‘E’- Myth (Revisited) illustrates the importance of developing duplicate-able systems. He demonstrates that a business owner’s value is in their system. This makes sense (dollars too, BILLIONS of them!) Look at McDonald's, KFC, Wal-Mart, and EVERY other successful business in America. Every one of those businesses has systems that are duplicate-able, ensure consistency, and, as a result, are worth LOTS of money. Well, every one of those corporations, from KFC’s 11 herbs and spices and their special chicken pressure-fryer to Papa Johns’ fresher ingredients and better pizza, license (franchise) their systems. Those companies make oodles of money...