Since the inception of this website we have highlighted the inexorable movement of fraud enforcers to direct targeting of quality problems as fraud. (See, link to (
3) #
56, #
45) When the AHLA and the OIG published joint guidance to hospital boards on their fiduciary responsibilities for quality it was clearly game on! We have highlighted the
quality-compliance nexus in the past as well. The rules of the game have so intensified, however, that we now believe that it can be said that a major goal for all health care providers in the 21st century will be “
Avoiding Quality Fraud”. Alice’s article with Jim Reinertsen in Trustee magazine is directed to hospital boards, but has meaning to everyone in health care. The increasing volume of quality data reporting, implied statements about quality in claims filed, and flat out false claims liability lurk. It is significant that hospital quality data reporting has been targeted by the OIG in the
2009 Work Plan as a topic of attention.