As we know from reading Medical Practice Compliance Alert, being excluded by the OIG cuts providers off from Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs.
 
Not only are excluded providers barred from billing the programs directly, they’re barred from being paid by organizations that bill these programs.
But an update to the OIG’s exclusion page provides insight into waivers, the one exception to the universal impact of exclusion. “Waivers are available only for those excluded providers who are the sole community physician or the sole source of essential specialized services in a community. Waivers cannot be granted to those excluded for patient neglect or abuse.”
 
The page also lists the dozen providers who currently operate under a waiver and the limits of the care they can provide. It looks a bit like wearing an ankle monitor when on parole, only there’s no fashionable cover up for an exclusion.