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Certain professions require more specialized screening than the traditional background check. Medical providers fall into this category. In this post we explore the medical exclusions database provided by the U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and how it is used for medical employment screening.

The OIG exclusions list is a powerful tool established by Congress to “prevent certain individuals and businesses from participating in Federally-funded health care programs”. Specifically, the Federal government will not pay for any items furnished, ordered, or prescribed by an excluded person or business. Violations of this policy can be quite costly, at $10,000 per incident, and up to three times the cost of the service. It also goes beyond the obvious services such as those provided by doctors; ambulance drivers also fall under these provisions. Since the government controls the majority of the national health budget through Medicare and similar programs, this is tantamount to cutting off the target’s ability to work in virtually any medical setting. As stated in the OIG special advisory bulletin:

…A provider or entity that receives Federal health care funding may only employ an excluded individual in […]