OIG Issues Two Reports on Fraud and Abuse in Medicare Part D

In June, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued two new reports on Medicare Part D titled: Ensuring the Integrity of Medicare Part D (available here) and Questionable Billing and Geographic Hotspots Point to Potential Fraud and Abuse in Medicare Part D (available here).
In the Ensuring the Integrity of Medicare Part D report, the OIG outlines the progress it has made in addressing – and the work still needed to protect against – fraud in the Medicare Part D program. According to the OIG, Part D fraud relates to two main issues: “1) the need to more effectively collect and analyze program data to proactively identify and resolve program vulnerabilities, and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse before it occurs; and (2) the need to more fully implement robust oversight to ensure appropriate payments, prevent fraud, and protect beneficiaries.” The OIG recommends that CMS take the following steps to combat fraud and abuse:
(1) require plan sponsors to report all potential fraud and abuse to CMS and/or the MEDIC;
(2) require plan sponsors to report data on the inquiries and corrective actions they take in response to fraud and abuse;
(3) expand drug utilization review programs to include additional drugs susceptible to fraud, waste, and abuse;
(4) implement an edit to reject prescriptions written by excluded providers;
(5) exclude Schedule II drug refills when calculating final payments to plan sponsors at the end of each year;
(6) seek authority to restrict certain beneficiaries to a limited number of pharmacies or prescribers;
(7) develop and implement a mechanism to recover payments from plan sponsors when law enforcement agencies do not accept case referrals;
(8) determine the effectiveness of plan sponsors’ fraud and abuse detection programs; and (9) ensure that plan sponsors’ compliance plans address all regulatory requirements and CMS guidance.
In the Questionable Billing and Geographic Hotspots Point to Potential Fraud and Abuse in Medicare Part D report, the OIG addresses drug abuse in the Part D Program, including controlled substance abuse and the diversion of non-controlled substances for illegal purposes. The OIG analyzed prescription drug event records from 2006-2014. The study found that:
• Since 2006, Medicare spending for commonly abused opioids has grown faster than spending for all Part D drugs;
• Pharmacies with questionable billing raise concerns about pharmacy-related fraud schemes; and • Geographic hotspots for certain non-controlled drugs point to possible fraud and abuse.
The OIG recommends that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid continue “to conduct investigations of pharmacies with questionable billing when warranted and to monitor pharmacy billing” and to fully implement OIG’s previous recommendations.”
The publication of these two reports highlights the government’s continued scrutiny on pharmacies and prescribing physicians. Pharmacies and physicians should ensure that they have effective compliance programs in place to internally combat fraud and abuse.

For more information, contact Adrienne Dresevic, Esq., at adresevic@thehlp.com or (248) 996-8510.