The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has added a new entity, Ridgeview Rehab & Nursing Center, LLC (Ridgeview), to its list of individuals and entities designated as “high risk – heightened scrutiny.” The “high risk – heightened scrutiny” list is part of the OIG’s fraud risk indicator tool, which the OIG made public last year. The fraud risk indicator tool places parties that have settled False Claims Act (FCA) allegations with the government into one of five categories on a risk spectrum.

Recently, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published newly-issued guidance on the HHS OIG Grant Self-Disclosure Program (“Program”), which creates a formal framework for recipients, sub-recipients, and applicants for federal grant money to disclose potential violations of federal criminal, civil, or administrative law that may impact federally-awarded grants. Similar to the OIG’s Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol, the program offers incentives for self-disclosures in the form of reduced penalties and sanctions. The Program will be particularly important for individuals and  entities, such as research universities, that receive federally-funded grants, as the Program establishes a specific process for making certain mandatory disclosures already required by law as well as provides guidance and incentives for making voluntary disclosures.