Providers that resolve fraud matters using the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's provider self-disclosure protocol generally will no longer be required to enter into corporate integrity agreements, IG Daniel R. Levinson announced April 15.

Levinson said in an open letter to providers that accurate and complete disclosures, timely responses to OIG requests for additional information, and accurate audits by disclosing providers all indicate "effective compliance measures" that rule out the need for corporate integrity agreements or certification of compliance agreements in most cases.

"We believe that this presumption in favor of not requiring a compliance agreement appropriately recognizes the provider's commitment to integrity and also advances our goal of expediting the resolution of self-disclosures," Levinson said in the letter.

Levinson also told providers in the letter that his office sought to speed the self-disclosure process, and told providers they should "be in a position to complete the investigation and damages assessment" within three months of the OIG accepting self-reported cases of fraud.

OIG Chief Counsel Lewis Morris said his staff also has made internal improvements to streamline the self-disclosure protocol, and that the new time frame not only speeds the process but discourages providers from entering the self-disclosure protocol with too little information or with no intent to actually resolve the matter.

For more on the open letter, see the next issue of G-2 Compliance Report.