Search Warrant Checklist
Search Warrant Checklist
Health care providers faced with a search warrant as part of a federal fraud and abuse investigation may want to consider the following steps, suggested by attorneys with the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle:
o Find the person in charge of executing the warrant and ask to see identification.
o Have a responsible manager ask for a copy of the warrant and read it carefully. Also, ask for a copy of any affidavit submitted to a court or other body to obtain the warrant.
o Call the hospital’s attorney and provide the time the warrant was served, the law enforcement and regulatory agencies involved, the areas to be searched, and the types of evidence to be seized.
o Be businesslike and courteous, but do not volunteer information.
o Consider sending all non-essential employees home until the search is completed.
o Designate one employee to deal with the agents executing the search warrant and to take notes during the search.
o Closely monitor the search, but do not interfere with it.
o If the persons executing the warrant seize privileged documents, advise them that the documents are privileged. Request that they be sealed in an envelope and segregated from the other items seized until counsel can seek their return.
o Take careful notes of the type and location of the evidence seized, including any documents, computer records, photographs, videotapes, and audio recordings.
o Advise employees not to interfere with the search.
o Advise employees of their rights regarding questioning by government investigators, including the following:
• Employees have the right not to talk.
• Employees have the right to have an attorney present.
• Employees have the right to have a representative of the hospital present.
o Obtain a detailed receipt of all of the evidence seized.
o Ask for the opportunity to copy all documents or other records seized.
o Advise employees not to discuss the search or any related events with the press.
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