2026 HHS-OIG Advisory Opinions: What Hospital and Health System Counsel Need to Know

• May 28, 2026

• Anthony Burba , Barnes & Thornburg LLP
• Megha Mathur , Barnes & Thornburg LLP

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) has issued a handful of advisory opinions so far in 2026—most have been favorable, but hospitals should take note of an unfavorable opinion (AO 25-12) posted in early January. Rather than surveying every opinion issued this year, this article zeroes in on the ones most relevant to hospital and health system counsel: those that introduce new analytical frameworks, touch common hospital arrangements, or flag enforcement priorities worth acting on. In opinion after opinion, HHS-OIG concluded that the arrangements at issue generated no remuneration at all under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), rather than finding remuneration that posed sufficiently “low risk.” That threshold distinction has significant structural implications for how hospital counsel should design and evaluate compliance programs.

ARTICLE TAGS

• Hospitals and Health Systems Practice Group
• Fraud and Compliance