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Have You Seen the Compliance Resource Portal?

on Tuesday, 5 February 2019 in Health Law Alert: Erin E. Busch, Editor

A fairly new addition to the OIG’s website www.oig.hhs.gov is the Compliance Resource Portal which is accessed by selecting “Compliance” on the homepage and clicking the link to “Visit the Compliance Resource Portal.”

The Compliance Resource Portal includes long-standing pages such as Fraud Alerts, Guidance and Safe Harbor Regulations, Resources for Health Care Boards and Compliance Guidance.

New additions include a Toolkits Section with “Adverse Event Trigger Tools,” A Toolkit for Health Care Boards, and an OIG Toolkit to identify patients at risk of opioid abuse.

The Adverse Event Trigger Tools set out several Care Module Triggers, e.g., transfusion or use of blood products; Surgical Module Triggers such as admission to ICU post-op; Medication Module Triggers including abrupt medication stop; Intensive Care Module Triggers including re-admission to ICU; Perinatal Module Triggers such as Terbutaline use; and Emergency Department Module Triggers such as spending more than six hours in the ED. The Worksheet explains that any of the Triggers indicate that clinicians should further review the medical record to determine whether or not the patient was harmed.

The Toolkit for Health Care Boards includes a one-page “cheat sheet” that summarizes key points of recent guidance about the expectations for governing boards regarding compliance.

Finally, the Toolkit: “Using Data Analysis to Calculate Opioid Levels and Identify Patients at Risk of Misuse or Overdose” (June 2018) provides clinically detailed instructions about assessing risk and calculating appropriate dosages.

The OIG website is regularly updated with new materials and resources, making it an important resource for compliance officers, compliance committees and those with quality improvements responsibilities.

Julie A. Knutson

1700 Farnam Street | Suite 1500 | Omaha, NE 68102 | 402.344.0500