At least 74% of employers are automating their hiring processes. In the healthcare industry specifically, more businesses are using tools and tactics like an OIG LEIE exclusion search to safeguard their hiring choices and automating that search with compliance software solutions. The Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) helps prevent fraud, ensure high-quality levels of care, and keep businesses aligned with regulatory measurements.
However, considering how much is at stake from hiring the wrong person(s), it’s becoming too risky to manually vet potential employees and vendors. Instead, HR professionals are seeking software solutions that allow them to see updates, relieve the strain of administrative burden, and allow them to cross-reference against other useful databases.
To get started with the right type of automation, you should understand what your practice needs, how the LEIE affects your processes, and what to look for in the right complementary system.
Why Doing an OIG LEIE Lookup Search Matters
The OIG LEIE search is a consistently updated database containing the names of all individuals and entities excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs. The primary reason that an OIG LEIE lookup is important is that it protects providers from civil monetary penalties (CMPs), which could cost up to $10,000 per item or service. By item or service, this means that the OIG can require an employer to pay up to this amount for every service rendered by the employee who was on the exclusion list.
Providers can appear on this list for a range of reasons varying from convictions related to Medicare or Medicaid fraud or even cases of patient abuse or licensing issues. Aside from financial losses, hiring or retaining any individual who appears on this list can lead to a significant loss in potential reimbursements and greatly damage an organization’s reputation. This is one of many reasons that HR professionals should be prioritizing ways to keep up with the list’s monthly updates so that nothing goes overlooked.
Automating the OIG LEIE Lookup: What to Look For
Automating your OIG LEIE exclusion search using compliance software offers a streamlined approach to the alternative of continuing with manual processes that can be time-consuming and a drain on your resources. HR professionals should be using a specific type of compliance software to automate their OIG exclusion screenings because of what will be seen in return:
- Ability to check your vendor lists against the OIG exclusion list without manual effort
- Better internal filing options and processes
- Increase in rates of policy adherence
- Capability to receive updates vs. manually reviewing the OIG LEIE database
Compliance software allows HR departments to integrate the OIG LEIE exclusion search process into onboarding workflows, automate checks when hiring new staff, complete employee reviews, and assess claims that may arise during an existing contract.
Automation in general, eliminates the possibility of human error, ensuring nothing is missed, and alerts HR teams if an employee or contractor’s status changes. Having regular reporting as an option can be helpful during audits or for tasks such as general record-keeping.
The Primary Challenge When Conducting an OIG LEIE Search
The primary challenge of conducting an efficient OIG LEIE exclusion search is checking the information you have against other lists and then cross-referencing that with the primary database. In simpler terms, it’s often difficult to check multiple systems against the information they may have without feeling that something may have been missed.
Some organizations use several systems for employee management, which can complicate tracking exclusions. Oftentimes, the LEIE database isn’t the only list that should be reviewed. Employers should determine the licensure a potential employee has or whether they work in multiple states.
In cases like this, checking the employee’s information against Medicaid databases could also be helpful. For a smaller healthcare company though, this could be an administratively draining task without the right automation.
Protecting Your Staffing Processes With Automation
An OIG LEIE search is non-negotiable if businesses want to better safeguard their hiring processes and the vendors to which they extend contracts. More businesses are noticing that manual screening processes leave too much room for error and that they take time from other projects.
As an alternative, compliance software solutions offer that lost time back to healthcare organizations and provide an automated method of multiple system search capabilities and regular updates and reporting.
To protect the way you run your department or your business, consider what the right software could help to restore within your hiring processes.
