The OIG files: Are your nurses being followed?
That’s a possibility. You never know . . .’
Surveillance; suspects being tailed; FBI raids; confiscation of Medicare billing records. Is all that stuff you’ve been hearing about Operation Restore Trust really happening?
It all sounds like a really bad made-for-TV movie, or maybe something stolen from the writers of "The Untouchables" or of Austin Powers, if you like comedy. But let’s face it: Have you actually seen mysterious unmarked cars following home health nurses on their daily rounds?
A recent message posted to an on-line bulletin board on home health alerted Hospital Home Health. "One of our members has called me and reported that the nurses are reporting vehicles following them as they make their rounds," the source from a home health trade organization wrote. "In one case, someone has knocked on the patient’s door and asked the patient about the home health agency."
To find out what we could, we called the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC.
Judy Holtz, a spokeswoman for the OIG, tells Hospital Home Health, "Yes, we do surveillance; we do interview beneficiaries, but HCFA also does survey and certification work. They could be sending people out to check on an agency. But we do surveillance work, and we sometimes set up sting operations, if you will. That’s a possibility. You never know."
Holtz is quick to add, however, that the OIG only pursues cases that have clear evidence of wrongdoing. They are not out to punish innocent mistakes. But a good rule of thumb might be simply to play by the rules.
Meanwhile, ignore the temptation to look over your shoulder unless, of course, you’ve got something to hide.
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