Under conditions of accepting money from the Provider Relief Fund, hospitals must not pursue the collection of out-of-pocket payments from COVID-19 patients in excess of what patients would have paid in-network providers.
The OIG plans to determine whether hospitals that accepted the terms and received provider relief payments complied with the surprise-billing requirement for COVID-19 inpatients.
“We will assess how bills were calculated for out-of-network patients admitted for COVID-19 treatment, review supporting documentation for compliance, and assess procedural controls and monitoring to ensure compliance with the balance billing requirement,” the OIG said.
