The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General on January 5, 2026, sent a Request for Information (RFI) titled “Medicare and State Health Care Programs: Fraud and Abuse; Request for Information Regarding the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Beneficiary Inducements CMP” to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review before publishing to the Federal Register.
Though specifics of the RFI are not clear at this time, we can deduce that the focus will be related to the effectiveness and opportunities for improving anti-kickback statutes as well as addressing health care provider inducements of beneficiaries and the civil monetary penalties (CMPs) available to address these issues.
Over the last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has engaged on numerous fraud issues including home health and hospice, and the White House on January 8, 2026 announced a new division at the Department of Justice to focus on federal benefit fraud.