Hospitals could soon face larger penalties from the federal government for selected infractions.

Under a new proposed regulation from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the agency may soon impose larger fines for

 … failure to grant OIG timely access to records; ordering or prescribing while excluded from a government program; making false statements, omissions, or misrepresentations in an enrollment application; failure to report and return an overpayment; and making or using a false record or fraudulent claim.

The OIG’s authority to do so comes from a number of sources, including the Affordable Care Act.

Interested parties have 60 days to comment on the proposed regulation.

Learn more about the OIG proposal in this Fierce Healthcare story and find the proposed regulation itself here, in the Federal Register.