On April 15, 2008, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the US Department of Health and Human Services issued “An Open Letter to Health Care Providers” (Open Letter), which details certain “refinements and clarifications” to its Self-Disclosure Protocol (SDP). The SDP, which the OIG originally unveiled in 1998, is a program in which providers who uncover potentially fraudulent activities in their organizations may disclose such activities to the OIG. The potential benefits of such disclosure generally have been a reduction in damages, the avoidance of a government investigation, and a greater likelihood that the provider will not be excluded from Federal health care programs for its misconduct. In the Open Letter, the OIG creates another significant benefit to disclosure—the potential avoidance of a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) or Certification of Compliance Agreement (CCA).
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