On October 13, 2022, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) officially extended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) for an additional three months, now through January 11, 2023 is. In addition, HHS will provide at least 60 days’ notice of his termination of PHE. As of November 17th, there have been no announcements regarding the end of PHE, so an additional extension is expected in January. However, the situation remains fluid as the Senate passed to terminate his PHE on his 16th. The bill requires passage through the House, and US President Joe Biden has suggested he will reject it if it gets to his desk.
First created in January 2020, the PHE waiver provides flexibility for telemedicine treatment, operations, and billing codes. Additional enhancements provided by HHS should be used by the healthcare provider to establish a process for reviewing policies and procedures and adapting current practices until the end of her PHE. We recommend adding COVID response, testing, care, and billing to your organization’s compliance audit and risk assessment plan. Providers should be aware that PHE exemptions are limited to federal programs. Each state that has enacted local PHE waivers can make independent decisions regarding the timelines for those waivers.
The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of the Inspector General, has criminalized the provision of counterfeit treatment, illegal contact tracing programs, and fraudulent use of vaccination cards. Healthcare providers should be aware that even with waivers in place, HHS aggressively enforces and prosecutes actions against fraud, waste and abuse in all modalities. Another enforcement trend involves medical organizations trying to swindle COVID-19-related aid programs. For example, a Missouri lawmaker who had ownership of a particular clinic was recently found guilty of nearly $900,000 by a federal jury. Conviction found defendant committed COVID-19-related fraud by using false information about uncompensated costs to support a request for grant relief under the Payment Protection Program (PPP) said. An investigation of this sort by the OIG would not only involve the PPP, but also the abuse of the Provider Relief Fund, a program run by her HHS to assist healthcare providers during a pandemic.
