CMS Failed to Report Providers' Adverse Actions, Says OIG

• Any civil judgment, including those against a clinical laboratory for fraudulent billing and misleading marketing, against a nursing home for neglect of and failure to clean patient rooms, against a plastic surgeon for misrepresenting claims as noncosmetic procedures in order to receive payment.

The OIG recommended that CMS "should educate staff and contractors about the types of adverse actions to be reported and the timeframes for reporting."

Under provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the National Practitioner Data Base, which collects information related to the professional competence and conduct of physicians, dentists and other healthcare practitioners, will absorb data from the HIPDB.