solved Instructions In this assessment you will continue as a member

Instructions
In this assessment you will continue as a member of the Chief Compliance Officer’s team. Recently, an incorrect billing practice known as upcoding has been discovered. Upcoding is a common area for fraud and abuse, and the recent incident has become an area of major focus for the Chief Compliance Officer.
The Chief Compliance Officer has tasked you with researching and making evidence-based recommendations about how to identify and address this incorrect billing practice. Your recommendations will be considered for possible inclusion in future policy and procedure content.
The Chief Compliance Officer has stressed with you the importance of incorporating evidence-based recommendations. This individual is specifically interested in the Office of the Inspector General’s position on upcoding, any relevant case precedents, and any available resources for health care organizations. You know from experience that the workplace brief will need to include substantiation of all facts and recommendations from authoritative sources. The team leader has asked you cover all of the following headings in your brief:
Major Categories of Health Care Fraud and Abuse (2 pages)

Describe the major categories of health care fraud and abuse.

Be sure to include the billing practice known as upcoding.

Five Health Care Fraud and Abuse Laws (3 pages)

Provide a synopsis of five laws relating to health care fraud and abuse.
Include the rationale for why you selected the laws you did.

Upcoding and the Law (2–4? pages)

Explain in detail one law pertaining to upcoding.

Be sure to explain how the law specifically applies to upcoding.

Provide an actual example of upcoding.

Select your example from your suggested resources, from research you conducted on the topic, or from your professional experience. If your example stems from your professional experience, please be sure to protect individual and organizational identities.

Identifying and Addressing Upcoding in Health Care (2–4? pages)

Propose a list of evidence-based recommendations to identify and address upcoding in the health care environment.  

Be sure to consider in your recommendations what the Office of Inspector General has to say about identifying and addressing upcoding.
Tip: Visit these websites:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2017). Avoiding medicare fraud and abuse: A roadmap for physicians. Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicar…
United States Department of Health and Human Services & Office of Inspector General. (n.d.). Compliance education materials: Compliance 101. Retrieved from https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/101/

Additional Requirements

Written communication: Use the linked Identifying and Addressing Upcoding Template [DOCX]. Ensure your workplace brief is clear, succinct, well-organized, and generally free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. 
Length: Approximately 8–10 double-spaced content pages in Times New Roman, 12-point font, including the reference page.
Title page: Develop a descriptive title of approximately 5–15 words. It should stir interest, yet maintain professional decorum. Ensure that your title page conforms to current APA format.
References: Include a minimum of 6 current (within the past 5 years), authoritative citations in current APA format. Include a separate reference page that also conforms to APA guidelines.
APA format: Use current APA style and formatting. Indent the first sentence of all new paragraphs.
Font: Times New Roman, 12-point.?
Scoring guide: Review the scoring guide for this assessment so that you understand how your faculty member is going to evaluate your work.

Resources: Compliance Snapshot
This website contains valuable information regarding basic compliance concepts, terminology, explanations of laws, and additional important resources for the workplace. Laws covered include: the Federal False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Physician Self-Referral Law, the Criminal Health Care Fraud Statute, the Exclusion Statute, and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law:

??Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2017). Avoiding medicare fraud and abuse: A roadmap for physicians. Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicar…

This important website contains provider compliance program guidance, a rationale for the importance of compliance, program effectiveness measurement resources, training materials, and more. This site also provides some excellent videos, such as examples of the 2017 fraud report “take downs,” including $1.3 billion in billing fraud and $4 billion dollars in total fraud:

??United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Office of the Inspector General. (n.d.). Compliance education materials: Compliance 101. Retrieved from https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/101/
Resources: Fraud and Abuse Laws
This resource explains the anti-kickback law:

United States Government Publishing Office. (n.d.) Title 42—The public health and welfare [Anti-kickback statute]. Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2016-title42/…
This resource explains the criminal health care fraud statute:
United States Government Publishing Office. (n.d.) Title 18—Crimes and criminal procedure [Criminal health care fraud statute]. Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2016-title18/…
This resource explains the false claims act:
United States Government Publishing Office. (n.d.) Title 31—Money and finance [False claims act]. Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2016-title31/…
This resource explains a law dealing with physician self-referral:
United States Government Publishing Office. (n.d.) Title 42—The public health and welfare [Physician Self-Referral or Stark Law].  Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2016-title42/…
This resource explains the exclusions statute for participation in federally funded operations:
United States Government Publishing Office. (n.d.) Title 42—The public health and welfare.[Exclusion statute]. Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2016-title42/…
This reading explains the civil monetary penalties law:  
United States Government Publishing Office. (n.d.)  Title 42—The public health and welfare [Civil monetary penalties law]. Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2016-title42/…

Resources: Suspected Fraud and Abuse
The following video contains critical information about how to protect yourself from health care fraud and abuse in the workplace. It also tells you what to do if you suspect a violation:

United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Office of Inspector General. (n.d.). Reporting Fraud to OIG. Retrieved from