CMS Gains Power to Ban Fraud-Linked Providers From Medicare and Medicaid After Kennedy Signs Formal Delegation Notice

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can now bar doctors, clinics, and companies from Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally handed the agency that power in a Federal Register notice on the delegation of authority, published Oct. 14. The change took effect immediately. Until now, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) handled this exclusion authority.

Exclusion is one of the government's toughest penalties for health care fraud and misconduct. For patients, it can mean a clinic or supplier they use can no longer bill their coverage.