Frequently asked questions | SAFER PLUS
FAQ
Everything you need to know about the new SAFER™ platform. Find answers to commonly asked questions about features, your account, and getting started.
Billing
Log in to SAFER Plus, go to Settings → Billing, and click Billing Portal in the Invoice History panel.
Open the Billing Portal from SAFER Plus. In the right-hand panel, click Add Payment Method to add, remove, or manage payment methods.
We’ve updated our business mailing address to ensure more efficient processing our physical mail. The new address for payments by check is:
Exclusion Screening LLC
1763 Columbia Rd NW Ste 175
PMB 182797
Washington, District of Columbia 20009-2891 US
In the Billing Portal, go to Billing Details → Contacts to view or update billing contacts.
Roster/File upload and management, Report Access, SAFER Plus use
OIG-LEIE updates its list monthly, while GSA-SAM and state exclusion lists vary. We automatically update our lists each month to ensure that our clients’ employees and vendors are screened against the most up-to-date databases.
Ideally once a month, before the 10th. If nothing has changed, you can upload less frequently, and our team will use your latest file.
Yes. Use SAFER Plus for ad-hoc searches. If a match appears, contact us to review and clear it. If no match appears, you can download the report directly.
At Exclusion Screening, we, along with OIG, strongly recommend screening employees on a monthly basis.
Log in to your SAFER Plus portal and navigate to Roster & Reports in the left-hand menu. Once you’re there, click the Upload button in the upper right corner to start the uploading process. Select the employee and vendor template in the File Template dropdown menu. There, you can click Open File Importer to upload your file.
We accept the following file formats:
- XLS
- XLSX
- CSV
For a video walk through on uploading your files, jump to 2:12 on our walkthrough onboarding video.
Log in to your SAFER Plus portal and navigate to Roster & Reports in the left-hand menu. Once you’re there, click the Upload button in the upper right corner to start the uploading process. Select the employee and vendor template in the File Template dropdown menu. There, you can click Open File Importer to upload your file.
We accept the following file formats:
- XLS
- XLSX
- CSV
For a video walk through on uploading your files, jump to 2:12 on our walkthrough onboarding video.
We’ll screen the most recent file you uploaded.
By the 10th of each month. That gives us enough time to do a thorough screening of your employees and vendors, investigate possible matches, and deliver the report before the end of the month.
Although we screen every month, no, you don’t need to upload the same file every month if there are no changes in your employee or vendor list. Our team will just use the latest uploaded file to screen every month.
Providers should screen prior to employment or to the initiation of a business relationship and monthly thereafter. Monthly screening makes sense because a person’s exclusion status is always subject to change. It is required by all Medicare Advantage Plans, all State Medicaid Programs, and all Medicaid Managed Care Organizations. In addition, CMS and the OIG have equivocally expressed its support, and the OIG has linked a failure to screen with overpayment and CMP liability.
If you are an admin user, you can manage existing users and add new users to the portal under settings on the left hand menu after you log into your SAFER Plus Portal.
Click New Hire/Vendor in the sidebar, enter the details, and hit search. You can add multiple entries if needed.
Report Analysis
Contact us with the search number so we can review and clear it.
A yellow record doesn’t necessarily mean the individual or vendor is on an exclusion list. It indicates that possible matches were found, and the team needs more time or additional information to confidently clear the record.
Next to the individual/vendor’s name in the report, we’ll specify what information is needed from you. Once the record is cleared, this will be reflected in your next report. If an exclusion is confirmed, you’ll be notified as soon as possible.
It means a possible match was found but couldn’t be verified, so we contacted the state agency where it was found and are waiting for their reply
Add it to your next monthly file, or contact us directly.
A red match/record/individual indicates a confirmed match or a “hit”. This means the individual is officially excluded from participating in federal or state healthcare programs (such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, etc.). The government has deemed this person an unacceptable risk to patient safety or the financial integrity of healthcare programs, often due to a history of fraud, patient abuse, licensure revocations, or drug offenses. If you have a confirmed excluded individual, federal and state programs will not pay for any goods or services furnished, directly or indirectly, by this person
You must immediately stop the individual from providing any services that are billed directly or indirectly to federal or state healthcare programs. Continuing to employ or contract with them exposes your practice to massive Civil Monetary Penalties (up to $24,164 per claim), overpayment liabilities, and even False Claims Act or criminal liability.
“Resolving Exclusion Violations through the OIG Self-Disclosure Protocol”. This article details the “3-headed liability monster” of overpayments, penalties, and False Claims Act liability, and provides a step-by-step guide on how to successfully self-disclose the violation to the OIG.
To read more in-depth about this exact scenario, the sources provide the following articles that you should review: “I Have a Confirmed Exclusion What are my Options” This article outlines the immediate steps to take, the strict payment prohibitions, the rare exceptions for ongoing employment, and how to calculate damages.
It is common to find individuals on a state exclusion list but not on the federal OIG LEIE for three main reasons:
Reporting Failures: State agencies frequently fail to report their exclusions to the OIG in a timely manner, or sometimes fail to report them at all.
Despite these gaps, employing someone on any state list still exposes your practice to severe overpayment liabilities and Civil Money Penalties.
For more detailed information on these discrepancies, you can reference the article titled “Who Is to Blame for Gaps in OIG and State Exclusion Lists? What Is the Impact on Providers?”
State-Specific Offenses: States can exclude providers for violating state laws that do not qualify for a federal exclusion.
Processing Delays: It can take the OIG several months to formally add a state-reported exclusion to the federal list.
Some records need more time or information to be cleared. Check the report for any details we’ve requested.
Yes! All records are clear at the time of screening, but ongoing monthly checks are still important.
Basic Screening Questions
You should absolutely consider both state and federal exclusions, rather than relying solely on federal lists. In our article “Current States With a Separate Medicaid Exclusion List,” Section 6501 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that if a provider is excluded from participating in one state’s Medicaid program, they are effectively excluded from participating in all fifty states. Furthermore, states often exclude providers for infractions based on state law—such as failing to pay state taxes, defaulting on state loans, or having state-specific licensure issues—that do not meet the criteria for a federal exclusion and will not appear on the federal OIG-LEIE database. Therefore, to fully mitigate the risk of overpayment liability and civil monetary penalties, it is highly recommended that providers regularly screen their employees and contractors against the federal LEIE and GSA-SAM databases, as well as all available state Medicaid exclusion lists.
Exclusion Screening conducts checks against both federal and state exclusion databases, depending on the subscription level selected. We think it is critical to screen employees and vendors against OIG-LEIE, GSA-SAM, and all of the state Medicaid exclusion lists available.
Under the basic subscription, screenings are performed against the two primary federal exclusion databases:
- Office of Inspector General – List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (OIG-LEIE)
- General Services Administration – System for Award Management (GSA-SAM)
These two federal databases are considered foundational for compliance, as they identify individuals and entities excluded from participation in federally funded healthcare programs and federal contracting.
For organizations requiring a more comprehensive risk mitigation approach, the SAFER database expands screening to include all available State Medicaid Exclusion Lists. Because state-level exclusions are not always captured in federal databases, incorporating these lists provides an additional layer of protection and reduces exposure to state-specific enforcement actions.For a detailed analysis of the distinctions between federal and state exclusion lists—and the compliance implications of each—please refer to the article: “OIG Exclusion and State Exclusion Lists: Which Exclusion Lists Need to Be Screened? What Is the Difference Between Them?”
No payment will be made by any Federal health care program for any item or services furnished, ordered or prescribed by an excluded individual or entity. The exclusion rule applies regardless of who submits the claim and it applies to all administrative and management services, even if they are not separately billable. It also applies to any vendor that an individual or entity contracts with, if the individual or entity knows or should know the vendor or person is excluded.
The exclusion provision encompasses direct and indirect patient care; it applies, but is not limited to: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, medical transportation services, accountants, administrators, and volunteers.
OIG has authority under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMPL) to impose Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs), assessments, and program exclusions against anyone who submits any false, fraudulent, or other improper claim to the Federal health program for payment. OIG has the power to impose CMPs of up to $10,000 for each claimed item or service furnished by an excluded individual or entity. The individual or entity could also be subject to an assessment of up to three times the amount claimed for each item or service and could face exclusion from the Federal health care program.
Dep’t of Health and Human Servs. Office of the Inspector Gen., Special Advisory Bulletin on the Effect of Exclusion from Participation in Federal Health Care Programs, 6–7 (May 8, 2013).
Related Resources
How It Works
See our step-by-step screening process from enrollment to monthly reports.