Office of Inspector General Policy Statement Regarding Gifts of Nominal Value To Medicare and Medicaid Beneficiaries Did you know that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has a policy that limits gifts to Medicare and Medicaid Beneficiaries? Well, they do. It can be found at: https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/ docs/alertsandbulletins/OIG- Policy-Statement-Gifts-of- Nominal-Value.pdf It is against policy of the Social Security Act to give a gift that is "likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular provider, practitioner, or supplier of Medicare or Medicaid payable items or services" So you can't give out money to get a beneficiary to chose to go to your practice or to your doctor. This also means you can't waive copayments and deductibles or give them items or services for free. They do, however, allow you to give "inexpensive gifts of nominal value be permitted". They give the definition for "nominal value" as hav...