Venops: Your Trusted Partner for OIG Screening and OIG Exclusion Compliance

Operating a health organization in the U.S. has numerous duties from caring for patient needs to managing staff to complying with hundreds of regulations. In all of these duties, the most important duty is ensuring that your organization is compliant with federal health care regulations. For this reason, OIG Screening and understanding OIG Exclusion rules is critical to compliance with federal health care regulations. Venops is a trusted choice for you to simplify and relieve any stress related to this process.

What OIG Exclusion ?

Let’s start off with the basics of OIG exclusion. OIG exclusion (i.e., one or more actions taken by OIG) refers to the action taken by OIG (Office of Inspector General), which is part of the Federal Government (i.e., Department of Health and Human Services). If a person or entity has been placed on the OIG Exclusion List (or their ability to provide healthcare has been denied), they are no longer permitted to participate in any federally funded healthcare program (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, etc.).

There are many reasons why an individual or entity may receive an OIG exclusion. Serious reasons such as committing fraud in a healthcare program; engaging in the abuse or neglect of a patient; felony conviction for a drug-related offense; or violation of federal law relating to the federally funded healthcare program. Once a person has been placed on the exclusion list, they cannot be employed, contracted with, or paid by any healthcare entity who receives federal funds.

This sounds straightforward enough, but here is the problem. The OIG exclusion list is updated every single month. New names are constantly being added, and sometimes names are removed. If your organization accidentally hires or pays someone who is on the OIG Exclusion list, you could face massive fines, lose your ability to participate in federal programs, and suffer serious damage to your reputation. This is exactly why OIG Screening is so important.

What Is Screening By OIG, And Why Does Screening By OIG Matter?

Screening by OIG is the act of determining if someone affiliated with your organization (staff, contractors, vendors, volunteers) exists on the federal exclusion list. It is the law that healthcare organizations perform this screening on a regular basis (i.e., monthly), so you are working only with people who are not eligible for federal reimbursement.

Some organizations make the mistake of performing OIG every 12 months, or only at the time of hire. Since new names are added to the exclusion list every month, the person you screened last month might qualify for exclusion from participation in a federal program by next month. If you do not do OIG screenings regularly, you may unknowingly be in violation of federal law for an extended period of time.

When you use Venops you have an extremely useful partner to help you with your compliance efforts. (The website for Venops can be found at venops.com and it is a highly efficient compliance software solution for the health care sector.) It gives you the ability to automate your OIG Screening and OIG Exclusion process, so you can spend less time using manual processes and much more time managing your business

You simply upload your employee, contractors, and vendor listing into the secure Venops software program; once done it will automatically screen all of your employees against both the current OIG exclusion list, and also against each of the applicable state Medicaid exclusion lists and SAM.gov database. Whenever any type of a match occurs within any part of our system you will receive an immediate detailed notification letting you know what action to take immediately.

Venops is incredibly simple to use and has an easy-to-navigate control panel that lets you monitor all your screenings at once. You can check your current level of compliance, generate reports that will be suitable for audit purposes, and keep all your records without needing to do anything extra. Venops is flexible enough to accommodate any size healthcare organization, whether it's a small practice or a large hospital system.

The other feature that makes Venops so appealing to its users is the assistance offered by the Venops support staff. The support team is made up of individuals with extensive knowledge of the regulation governing healthcare facilities. The team is there to provide you with answers to any questions you may have or to assist you in navigating a challenging compliance environment.

The Bottom Line

You cannot afford to ignore OIG Exclusion rules; the risks of non-compliance are too high; both financially and reputationally. Regular and thorough OIG Screening is the only way to keep your organization safe and compliant.

With Venops as your partner, this process is easier than ever. Their automated screenings, comprehensive database coverage, easy-to-use platform, and knowledgeable support make them the best choice for regulatory compliance in the healthcare industry. Don't wait until a regulatory violation costs you thousands of dollars or puts your patients in danger; go to venops.com now to learn how simple compliance can be in the healthcare industry.