On March 20, 2001, the Office of Inspector General
(OIG) issued Advisory Opinion 01-2 on the participation
of a community health center’s vendors and suppliers in
a charitable fundraising golf tournament. The OIG noted that financial contributions by vendors and suppliers
through event sponsorship and registration could
constitute “prohibited remuneration under the anti-kickback
statute, if the requisite intent to induce or reward
referrals of federal health care program business were
present.” However, the OIG said it would not impose
administrative sanctions on the proposed arrangement
for three reasons:
1. The golf tournament in this case was “a bona fide
charitable event intended to provide benefits to the
community,” particularly the medically underserved
2. The participation of the [health center’s] vendors was
incidental to a broad community solicitation and
broad participation by non vendors.
3. The health center did “not take tournament participation
or sponsorship into account when awarding and
renewing contracts or purchasing items or services.”
In conclusion, the OIG found that the golf tournament
provided “significant community benefits without presenting
a significant risk of abuse of federal health care
programs.”
Technically, you cannot rely on an OIG advisory opinion
unless you requested it. That said, the March 20,
2001 advisory opinion provides useful insight into the
type of arrangements that the OIG is likely to criticize.
Don’t let your hospital’s fundraising activities exclusively
target vendors who sell goods or services for which
reimbursement may be sought from federal health care
programs. Shoot for broad community participation in
the fundraising activity.
Similarly, guard against explicit or even implicit quid
pro quo between a vendor’s charitable contributions
and expanded business with your hospital. For this reason,
it might be advisable to prohibit those responsible
for the hospital’s purchasing decisions from soliciting
charitable contributions from vendors.
