The OIG exclusion list (LEIE)

OIG excludes people and businesses under sections 1128 and 1156 of the Social Security Act. The effect is a payment ban: no federal health care program pays for any item or service an excluded person furnishes, orders or prescribes. That covers Medicare, Medicaid and every other plan funded directly or indirectly by the United States, except the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

The ban follows the excluded person into any job. It applies to anyone who employs or contracts with them, whoever submits the claim, and it reaches administrative and management work too, not only patient care. OIG warns that anyone who hires someone on the LEIE may face civil monetary penalties, which is why providers check it before hiring and then every month.

An exclusion doesn't stop the person receiving Medicare or Medicaid benefits as a patient. It only stops payment for what they provide.

Some exclusions are required by law. OIG must exclude anyone convicted of a program-related crime, patient abuse or neglect, a felony related to health care fraud, or a felony involving controlled substances, for at least five years (section 1128(a)). A second such conviction brings at least ten years, and a third a permanent exclusion.

Others are at OIG's discretion (section 1128(b)), on grounds that include:

• —A misdemeanor conviction related to health care fraud or controlled substances (a baseline of 3 years).
• —A health care licence revoked, suspended or surrendered for reasons of competence, performance or financial integrity: at least as long as the licensing board's action.
• —Fraud, kickbacks or false claims to a federal health care program.
• —Excessive charges, or unnecessary or substandard services (at least 1 year).
• —Defaulting on a health education loan or scholarship (until the default is resolved).
• —Owning or controlling an excluded business; a business owned or controlled by an excluded person can be excluded too.

The file OIG posted in October 2026 lists 80,627 individuals and 3,466 businesses. Nurses and nurse aides are the largest group by far: 34,776 people, 43% of the individuals. Personal care providers, owners and operators of health care businesses, and health care aides come next. Each state's own count is on its state Medicaid list page.

OIG updates the list once a month, generally by the middle of the month, with every action taken in the month before. Each update replaces the whole downloadable file, and OIG also posts monthly supplement files of new exclusions and reinstatements for anyone who keeps their own copy.

People who are reinstated are removed from the file, so the LEIE only ever shows current exclusions. That is also why a name that cleared last month can match this month: check again after every update, not once at hire.

OIG's own online search takes up to five names at a time. When a name matches, it can confirm the person with a Social Security number (or a business with its EIN), because it holds those numbers and doesn't publish them.

For more than a few names, OIG suggests downloading the full file and searching it in a spreadsheet or database. The file has names, dates of birth, addresses, professions and, for some, NPIs, but no Social Security numbers: the Privacy Act bars publishing them. The free check on this page searches that file, with SAM.gov, for up to 50 names at once, catching misspellings, nicknames and swapped first and last names, and using the date of birth to tell apart people who share a name. See how matching works.

• —Treat it as a potential match until you confirm it: compare the date of birth, city and profession on the entry.
• —Confirm the person on OIG's online search with their Social Security number. OIG's Exclusions Branch (exclusions@oig.hhs.gov) can send a copy of the exclusion notice.
• —If the person already works for you, OIG points to its Special Advisory Bulletin on the effect of exclusion and its Self-Disclosure Protocol. Talk to your compliance officer or a lawyer before you act.
• —Record what you found, who resolved it and when. Plans keep that record with each check.

Reinstatement is never automatic. When an exclusion period ends, the person has to apply to OIG, no earlier than 90 days before the end date, and may work in federal health care programs again only after OIG says so in writing. Getting a new Medicare or Medicaid provider number doesn't reinstate anyone.

Exclusions after a licence action have no fixed end: the person can generally apply once they regain the licence, and in some cases earlier. OIG can also grant a waiver that lets an excluded person be paid in a limited setting, and it lists the waivers in effect on its website.

The OIG exclusion list (the LEIE) holds only the exclusions HHS-OIG imposes: people and businesses barred from Medicare, Medicaid and the other federal health care programs. SAM.gov, run by the General Services Administration, holds exclusion records from many federal agencies, OIG's exclusions among them, and covers federal contracts and federal assistance, not only health care.

They also publish different details. The LEIE file gives a date of birth for almost every individual (98.9% in the current file); SAM.gov's public records give none, so a name match there is settled with the record's address and the agency that took the action. And an exclusion by an agency other than HHS appears on SAM.gov but never on the LEIE.

So if you bill federal health care programs, check both: the LEIE for health care exclusions, SAM.gov for exclusions by every other federal agency. State Medicaid agencies must check both every month (42 CFR 455.436).