HCCA and AIS Announce Launch of Medicaid Compliance News

The source for timely news and practical compliance strategies for hospitals, health systems, and other providers and suppliers

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2007 — Driven by tough new Congressional mandates and explosive pressure from the states, CMS and the HHS Office of Inspector General are now launching unprecedented efforts to curtail Medicaid payment errors and fraud and abuse. To assist health care compliance officers in preparing for this onslaught of new requirements and scores of eager auditors and government enforcers, the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) and Atlantic Information Services (AIS) have teamed up to publish The HCCA-AIS Medicaid Compliance News.

Background

With huge government funding and manpower investments already in place, there is no chance this enforcement freight train will be derailed. Consider:

• For the next five years, Congress is providing $100 million per year to CMS and the OIG to reduce the Medicaid error rate and fight fraud, and they expect a tenfold return — $1 billion in checks that will be written to the U.S. Treasurer by hospitals, health systems and other providers and suppliers.
• Medicaid is destroying state budgets from coast to coast. It accounts for one-third of the entire state budget in Texas, for instance, where nearly 1,000 state staffers, auditors and criminal investigators now search for Medicaid errors and fraud.
• Medicaid enforcement has been lax, and state and federal investigators are expected to be "like little kids in a candy store" as they sift through years of potential neglect and abuse. You stand a decent chance of meeting five different teams of auditors from the OIG, state Medicaid fraud control units, CMS, Medicaid Program Integrity contractors, and Payment Error Rate Measurement Program (PERM) contractors.

Published by a Highly Experienced Team

HCCA's lead role on Medicaid Compliance News ensures that stories will address health care providers' most serious Medicaid risks in a highly practical, no-nonsense way. The newsletter is written by an AIS editorial team led by Nina Youngstrom, who for the past 16 years has written the award- winning weekly newsletter Report on Medicare Compliance, which features inside news and penetrating analysis of the top big-dollar issues for health care compliance officers.

For further information, visit http://www.aishealth.com/Products/NewsMCN.html.

About HCCA: The Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) is the only national, non- profit organization solely dedicated to improving the quality of health care compliance. Its mission is to champion ethical practice and compliance standards and to provide the necessary resources for ethics and compliance professionals and others who share these principles. For more information visit HCCA's Web site at http://www.hcca-info.org or call 888/580-8373. HCCA is located at 6500 Barrie Road, Suite 250, Minneapolis, MN 55435.

About AIS: Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is a publishing and information company that has been serving the health care industry for 20 years. It develops highly targeted news, data and strategic information for managers in hospitals, managed care plans, medical group practices, pharmaceutical companies and other health care organizations. AIS products include print and electronic newsletters, looseleafs, books, strategic reports, databases, audioconferences and live seminars. AIS is located at 1100 17th Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, toll-free: 800/521-4323, Web site: http://www.aishealth.com/

CONTACT
Bailey Sterrett
Atlantic Information Services
bsterrett@aispub.com
Phone: 202-775-9008

Atlantic Information Services
1100 17th Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 800-521-4323
www.AISHealth.com