A. HIPAA permits group health plans that offer coverage through an HMO to impose affiliation periods during which no benefits or services are provided to a plan member.

B. HIPAA created a new category of federal healthcare crimes, called federal healthcare offenses that apply to private healthcare plans as well as to federally funded healthcare programs.

C. One effect of Section 231(h) of HIPAA, which amended the Social Security Act, has been to permit health plans with Medicare contracts to provide enrollees with value-added services such as discounted memberships to health clubs.

D. HIPAA provides that any fines and penalties recovered through regulatory proceedings to enforce the federal fraud and abuse statutes will be turned over to enforcement agencies to conduct additional investigations.