Relaxed telehealth restrictions is a necessary step to limit potential COVID-19 exposure in physician offices in the emergency period. With this change, unfortunately, the US Justice Department estimates telehealth-related fraud has expanded significantly since early 2020 – approximated at 4.5 billion dollars.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2017 provides useful guidance for healthcare providers and payers to monitor their claims for potential fraud and quality of care concerns. The Work Plan (at https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/workplan/) details areas where OIG will focus their review efforts by type of provider.