HHS Watchdog Blesses Proposed Gift Card Giveaway To Encourage Test Returns

A proposal that would give some patients gift cards in exchange for returning a screening test sample would not violate anti-kickback law because it doesn’t encourage medically unnecessary services, HHS-OIG says.

Woman's hand giving gift card to friend.
• Source: Shutterstock

Exact Sciences Corp. can offer gift cards to encourage consumers to return sample collection kits for the Cologuard colorectal cancer test, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) said in a 24 March advisory opinion.

Typically, offering any kind of inducement to Medicare beneficiaries falls afoul of the anti-kickback statute of the False Claims Act. But the OIG found that while the gift cards could...

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