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Office of the Attorney General |
October 9, 1998
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
ALL ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERALS FOR THE
CRIMINAL AND CIVIL DIVISIONS
ALL TRIAL ATTORNEYS
FROM: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
SUBJECT:
The Sharing of Information on Health Care Fraud With Private Health
Plans
In 1993, I made health care fraud a top priority for the Department of Justice. Since that time, we have strengthened and expanded the investigation and prosecution of health care fraud with tremendous success. You should be congratulated for these efforts.
Our efforts to control health care fraud through aggressive detection, investigation and prosecution can be greatly enhanced through greater coordination and communication of information between law enforcement and private health plans. Secretary Shalala of the Department of Health and Human Services and I issued guidelines under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which address, among other things, the sharing of information between law enforcement and private health plans. These Guidelines require federal, state and local law enforcement agencies acting pursuant to the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Program to establish policies for the exchange of certain categories of information with health plans. The attached Statement of Principles is a general statement of principles for the Department of Justice concerning sharing of health care fraud information with private health plans. The Department will distribute this Statement of Principles to associations of health insurers and health plans for further dissemination to their membership.