INTERVIEW OF UTSW'S BILLING COMPLIANCE DIRECTOR

Now here's an interesting Q&A interview of Doug Arrington, the director of the Office of Billing Compliance at UT Southwestern.  Why do I find it so interesting?  Because of UTSW physician Dr. Larry Gentilello's lawsuit alleging noncompliance with Medicaid and Medicare rules and the subsequent alleged retaliation on the part of UTSW after he reported it (see links in Zemanta box below).  The interviewer should have asked Mr. Arrington if a perception of retaliation against employees who report breaches of policy is a good method for eliminating fraud.  Here's a question the interviewer did ask and a portion of Arrington's response:

There’s a lot of activity out there by whistleblowers who get a percentage of the proceeds on claims that are eventually proven to be true. Did that change the way, or the scope, of what you have to do?

It certainly changes the way that I do education here at Southwestern. I make sure that in new employee orientation that we place a very high value on compliance and being compliant with federal rules and regulations. Then, for our key billing staff, we make sure that they receive at least 15 hours of compliance education on an annual basis.

Click on the highlighted text to read the complete interview titled "HIStalk Interviews Doug Arrington."

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