Overview of Authorized Investigative Demands—Authority

On August 21, 1996, the President signed into law the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act, P.L. 104-191. Section 248 of P.L. 104-191 adds a new statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3486. This provision empowers the Attorney General, or the Attorney General's designee, to issue investigative demands to obtain records for investigations relating to Federal criminal health care fraud offenses; these records are not subject to the constraints applicable to grand jury matters set forth in Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e). The new statute also provides for judicial enforcement of these investigative demands through contempt actions and immunizes persons complying in good faith with such demands from civil liability for disclosure of information. Investigative demands differ from inspector general subpoenas in that the scope of the latter are limited to the statutory authority of the specific inspector general and civil investigations, whereas investigative demands can be directed more broadly to various public and private victims and must involve criminal investigations.