This article first appeared in Corporate Compliance Insights on March 28, 2013.
“The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.” – John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)
In its bid to restructure the nation’s health care system, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) has created both challenges and opportunities in the areas of corporate compliance, governance and risk communities. In three short years, myriad regulatory clarifications have swollen this 906-page statutory giant into a 70,000-page behemoth whose might has been enough to overcome the judicial and electoral challenges of 2012, eliminating any doubts as to whether reform is here to stay.
At its core, the ACA means different things to different people. Patients typically focus on the promise of new guarantees and protections for health insurance for the populace, as well as the penalties for those who remain without coverage. But the ACA has also captured the attention of health care providers as they shift from a formerly cost-based system toward one that gauges success or failure primarily on patient experience. Even the insurance industry must yield to the new law and wend its way through a changing landscape complete with medical loss ratio requirements, the end of lifetime limitations, challenges to any increase in premiums over a certain percentage, and the soon to be introduced Health Insurance Exchanges.
While the infusion of elements such as innovation, preventative care and overall wellness provide the Federal Government with a new and as yet untested backup plan to ensure the success of health care reform, plenty of room still exists within the ACA to combat health care fraud, abuse and waste. The False Claims Act stands at the forefront in the government’s battle to preserve the integrity of health care resources, although the law has evolved considerably since first signed into effect by President Lincoln in 1863. By ensuring the legacy of the FCA for future generations, however, the ACA has also created several compliance risks for companies across the nation. Here are the top five: … Read more →