An article in Bloomberg BNA's Health Care Fraud
Report and other publications, "Trump Budget
Anticipates Spending, Net Savings From Fighting Health Fraud,"
pointed out that while the Trump administration's recent budget
request calls for increased anti-fraud funding, HIPAA
investigations could languish due to a $6 million cut at the
Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil
Rights (OCR). Day Pitney's Eric Fader was quoted in the
article.
The budget request would allocate $33 million for the OCR, down
from $39 million for the prior year. The OCR's staff would also
be cut from 179 to 162 full-time personnel. Eric told Bloomberg BNA
that the proposed reductions in both funding and staffing would
seem to be a missed opportunity, assuming they actually go into
effect.
"There are certainly more than enough HIPAA and HITECH [Health
Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act]
violations to keep the current number of people busy, and financial
settlements with violators could potentially bring in a good return
on the investment in personnel, not to mention the inherent value
of helping to improve compliance," Eric said.
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