Instructions

In this assessment you will continue as a member of the Chief Compliance Officer’s team. Recently, an incorrect

billing practice known as upcoding has been discovered. Upcoding is a common area for fraud and abuse, and the

recent incident has become an area of major focus for the Chief Compliance Officer.

The Chief Compliance Officer has tasked you with researching and making evidence-based recommendations about

how to identify and address this incorrect billing practice. Your recommendations will be considered for possible

inclusion in future policy and procedure content.

The Chief Compliance Officer has stressed with you the importance of incorporating evidence-based

recommendations. This individual is specifically interested in the Office of the Inspector General’s position on

upcoding, any relevant case precedents, and any available resources for health care organizations. You know from

experience that the workplace brief will need to include substantiation of all facts and recommendations from

authoritative sources. The team leader has asked you cover all of the following headings in your brief:

Major Categories of Health Care Fraud and Abuse (2 pages)

Describe the major categories of health care fraud and abuse.

Be sure to include the billing practice known as upcoding.

Five Health Care Fraud and Abuse Laws (3 pages)

Provide a synopsis of five laws relating to health care fraud and abuse.

Include the rationale for why you selected the laws you did.

Upcoding and the Law (2–4 pages)

Explain in detail one law pertaining to upcoding.

Be sure to explain how the law specifically applies to upcoding.

Provide an actual example of upcoding.

Select your example from your suggested resources, from research you conducted on the topic, or

from your professional experience. If your example stems from your professional experience, please be

sure to protect individual and organizational identities.

Identifying and Addressing Upcoding in Health Care (2–4 pages)

Propose a list of evidence-based recommendations to identify and address upcoding in the health care

environment.

Be sure to consider in your recommendations what the Office of Inspector General has to say about

identifying and addressing upcoding.

Tip: Visit these websites:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2017). Avoiding medicare fraud and abuse: A

roadmap for physicians. Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-

Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-

MLN/MLNProducts/Downloads/Avoiding_Medicare_FandA_Physicians_FactSheet_905645.pdf

United States Department of Health and Human Services & Office of Inspector General.

(n.d.). Compliance education materials: Compliance 101. Retrieved from

https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/101/

Additional Requirements

Written communication: Use the linked Identifying and Addressing Upcoding Template [DOCX]. Ensure your

workplace brief is clear, succinct, well-organized, and generally free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and

spelling.

Length: Approximately 8–10 double-spaced content pages in Times New Roman, 12-point font, including the

reference page.

Title page: Develop a descriptive title of approximately 5–15 words. It should stir interest, yet

maintain professional decorum. Ensure that your title page conforms to current APA format.

References: Include a minimum of 6 current (within the past 5 years), authoritative citations in current APA

format. Include a separate reference page that also conforms to APA guidelines.

APA format: Use current APA style and formatting. Indent the first sentence of all new paragraphs.

Font: Times New Roman, 12-point.

Scoring guide: Review the scoring guide for this assessment so that you understand how your faculty

member is going to evaluate your work.