OIG targets preventive services and mental health

Why This Topic Matters

The OIG Work Plan often signals where Medicare claims may receive heightened attention, so compliance teams use it to focus internal audits and documentation review. This article helps readers identify the service categories most likely to attract oversight and understand the context of the agency’s current priorities.

Article Sections

1. Preventive services and the OIG Work Plan

   Introduces the Work Plan and the preventive service areas highlighted for Medicare review. It frames the article’s focus on federal oversight priorities for the year.

2. Medicare preventive screening services and IPPE

   Discusses Medicare-covered screening services and the Initial Preventive Physical Examination as specific areas of scrutiny. It also notes the general elements discussed by the OIG and the related compliance context.

3. E/M services in prior Work Plans

   Notes the absence of broad evaluation and management review from the current list and compares that to prior years. The discussion remains at a high level and focuses on oversight trends.

4. Other new investigative areas

   Summarizes additional categories named in the Work Plan, including mental health, therapy-related claims, antiemetic drugs, competitive acquisition program payments, and distant physician claims. It presents these as broad subjects of review rather than detailed coding guidance.

5. Ongoing review areas

   Lists continuing OIG review topics such as billing services, oversight activities, pathology, cardiography, therapy, and wound care. The section indicates that these areas remain part of the agency’s continuing monitoring.