New HHS rules significantly increase the amount of money your lab can save by making diligent and demonstrable efforts to prevent HIPAA violations even when those efforts don't succeed. We're … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
HIPAA: New HIPAA Penalties System Rewards Labs that Try to Comply
August 12, 2019
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Enforcement Trends: DOJ Changes to Yates Memo Make It Easier for Labs to Get Credit for Cooperating with Investigators
July 1, 2019
For the past five years, the DOJ has followed an enforcement policy designed to hold directors, officers and other top corporate officials responsible for the wrongdoing their companies commit. Last … [Read more...]
DOJ
Compliance Perspectives: Use New DOJ Criteria to Vet the Effectiveness of Your Lab Compliance Program
June 28, 2019
One of the primary responsibilities of a lab manager is to ensure that the lab's compliance program is effective. There's a lot on the line. Having an effective compliance program can help prevent … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE
DOJ Explains What It Wants from a Compliance Program
June 17, 2019
While it may not prevent all violations, the right compliance program can help your lab get lighter penalties if things go wrong. But what exactly is "the right compliance program." On April 30, the … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Brief Your CEO: Explain How New DOJ Guidance Can Get Your Lab Out of FCA Hot Water
June 10, 2019
New guidance from the DOJ lays out sheds light on a crucial matter that many high-ranking lab executives are forced to confront: whether to "play ball" with the federal government when internal … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE CORNER
Cybersecurity: The 10 Things HHS Says You Should Be Doing to Stop Phishing, Ransomware and Other Threats
February 18, 2019
HHS published guidance on cybersecurity for healthcare organizations. Even though it's voluntary, the new HHS Guidance is significant to the extent it lays out the agency's expectations of the … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Compliance Perspectives: Avoid Kickback Liability by Steering Clear of MD Processing Fees
December 10, 2018
Editor's Note: Two months ago, we talked about paying referring physicians a fee for collecting and processing blood, urine, tissue and other specimens. (G2 Compliance Advisor, Oct. 9, 2018, p. 1). … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Kickbacks: OIG Okays Incentivizing MDs to Order More Early Screening Tests
November 16, 2018
Proactive rather than reactive has become a mantra of the modern health care model. Early and periodic testing of patients is a critical element in this strategy. The problem is that not a lot of … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Compliance Perspectives: Managing Kickback Liability Risks of Specimen Processing Fees
October 9, 2018
It's common practice for labs to pay physicians a fee for collecting and processing blood, urine, tissue, and other specimens from the patients they refer to your lab for testing. While this might … [Read more...]
LAB SAFETY
The Safety Interpretation
September 10, 2018
By Dan Scungio, MT (ASCP), SLS, CQA (ASQ) bio When hospitals were placed on OSHA's list of "high-risk" workplaces, no one had to ask why. OSHA adjusts that list based on the number of … [Read more...]
