OIG reviewing comments on provision of patient transportation

In 2014, the Office of the Inspector General accepted comments from the public in connection with a proposed safe harbor relating to the provision of free or discounted transportation services provided to Medicare patients. If issued in final form, providers who meet the safe harbor criteria would be protected against the risk of enforcement for a violation of the Medicare statutory Patient Inducement Prohibition. That provision authorizes the imposition of civil penalties and possible exclusion against providers who offer improper inducements to patients.The statutory prohibition was enacted in 1996, when Congress was concerned about providers offering improper inducements to patients, which threatened to generate unnecessary utilization, as well as providing unfair influence on patient choice. As part of the legislative Conference Report, however, Congress made it clear that it did not want this amendment to prohibit certain items that provide helpful benefits to Medicare patients, such as the provision of local transportation.