The OIG LEIE bars providers from federal healthcare programs; SAM.gov lists government-wide federal contracting exclusions. They overlap but are not the same list, which is why healthcare compliance screens both — plus state Medicaid lists. The LEIE alone holds 83,001 active exclusions.
The short answer
Both are federal exclusion lists, but they answer different questions. The LEIE answers can this party be paid by a federal healthcare program? SAM.gov answers can this party receive a federal contract or grant? An excluded healthcare provider may sit on one, the other, or both — so a compliance program that checks only one is checking only part of the picture.
The OIG LEIE — the healthcare list
The List of Excluded Individuals/Entities is maintained by the HHS Office of Inspector General. When a person or organization is excluded, no federal healthcare program may pay for items or services they furnish, order, or prescribe — directly or indirectly. Employing an excluded individual can itself trigger civil money penalties.
The OIG refreshes the LEIE monthly. It currently holds 83,001 active exclusions, split between 43,005 mandatory and 39,747 permissive cases.
SAM.gov exclusions — the contracting list
SAM.gov, the System for Award Management run by the GSA, publishes the government-wide list of parties excluded from federal contracts and financial assistance. Its feeds include HHS-OIG debarments, so some healthcare-related parties appear there. But its scope is broader than healthcare and its purpose is procurement, not Medicare billing — so it captures exclusions the LEIE does not, and misses healthcare-only exclusions the LEIE does capture. That asymmetry is exactly why both lists belong in a screening program.
State Medicaid exclusion lists
Federal lists are not the whole map. Most states publish their own Medicaid exclusion lists, and a provider barred by one state’s Medicaid program may not appear on the federal LEIE at all. Thorough healthcare exclusion screening therefore covers three layers — the OIG LEIE, SAM.gov, and the relevant state Medicaid lists — so a match on any of them surfaces before a payment is made.
The OIG LEIE by the numbers
Screen against all three layers
Check a name or NPI against the OIG LEIE, SAM.gov exclusions, and state Medicaid lists in one pass — every match traced to its source list and snapshot date.
Exclusion screening →Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between OIG and SAM exclusions?
- The OIG LEIE is the HHS Office of Inspector General's list of individuals and entities barred from federal healthcare programs — Medicare, Medicaid, and others. SAM.gov holds government-wide exclusions that bar a party from federal contracting and assistance across all agencies. They overlap but are not the same list, and a party can appear on one, the other, or both.
- What is the OIG LEIE?
- The LEIE (List of Excluded Individuals/Entities) is the OIG's healthcare exclusion list. Anyone on it may not bill or be paid by any federal healthcare program. It currently holds 83,001 active exclusions and is refreshed monthly. 79,605 of those are individuals; the rest are entities.
- What is SAM.gov used for in exclusion screening?
- SAM.gov (the System for Award Management) publishes the government-wide list of parties excluded from federal contracts and assistance, maintained by the GSA from feeds that include HHS-OIG debarments. Healthcare compliance programs screen it alongside the LEIE because some healthcare-related exclusions surface there and not in the LEIE, and vice versa.
- Do you need to screen both OIG and SAM?
- Healthcare compliance guidance points organizations to screen the OIG LEIE as the baseline, and many also screen SAM.gov and the relevant state Medicaid exclusion lists, because no single list is complete. Screening only one leaves gaps where an excluded party appears on a list you did not check.
- What is a mandatory vs. permissive OIG exclusion?
- A mandatory exclusion is one the OIG must impose — for convictions such as healthcare fraud, patient abuse, or felony drug offenses. A permissive exclusion is discretionary, for a broader range of conduct. The current LEIE holds 43,005 mandatory and 39,747 permissive exclusions.
- How do I screen a provider against these lists?
- Fonteum's exclusion screening checks a name or NPI against the OIG LEIE, SAM.gov exclusions, and state Medicaid lists in one pass, returning a dated, source-cited result. You can screen a single provider or upload a roster, and every match is traced to its source list and snapshot date.
Related
- What is an OIG exclusion? — mandatory vs permissive, and what exclusion means.
- Exclusion screening guide — federal and state lists, cadence, and best practice.
- Exclusion screening solution — roster screening with a dated, source-cited record.
- OIG LEIE data — the exclusion dataset, its API, and bulk download.
- Sanctions & exclusions hub — the active OIG exclusion records by state and type.
- LEIE glossary entry — the short definition and where it fits in the data graph.