Home health agencies: targets of anti-fraud and abuse investigations.

Increased health care fraud and abuse investigations could result in home health agencies, and other targets, becoming politically acceptable casualties of war in the battle to balance the federal budget. To protect themselves, home health agencies would be well advised to conduct internal fraud and abuse audits on an annual basis and to develop corporate compliance plans (see Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 7, July 1994, at 16, and next month's issue, which will discuss corporate compliance programs as well as the OIG's new voluntary disclosure program). In addition, purchasers of home health agencies should be especially vigilant of fraud and abuse problems during the due diligence phase of the acquisition and, if problems are discovered, should consider whether voluntary disclosure to the OIG and settlement of any resulting claims is an appropriate condition of closing.