False Claims Act Insights - Physician, Refer Thyself: How Stark Law and FCA Intersect
2022 Resolutions: What Healthcare Practices Need To Tackle In the New Year
Goran Musinovic on Healthcare Real Estate Compliance
Podcast: CMS and OIG Final Rules for Innovating Your Value-Based Payment Program - Diagnosing Health Care
Compliance Perspectives: Changes to the Physician Self-Referral and Anti-Kickback Rules
Anti Kickback and Stark Law Enforcement and Compliance Issues
On November 2, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued its Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”) Final Rule. In this post, we sample some key highlights from the Final Rule. ...more
The CY 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule includes further revisions to the definition of the term “indirect compensation arrangement” under the federal physician self-referral prohibition (Stark Law). Less than...more
Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final rules for the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS Final Rule) and 2022 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System...more
On July 13, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the calendar year 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (Proposed Rule). Included in that Proposed Rule are proposals related to the...more
Proposed class action alleges DaVita subsidiaries withheld wage premium during declared COVID health emergency - According to a proposed class action filed in Washington state, an employee at Total Renal Care contends the...more
In the calendar year 2020 Medicare physician fee schedule final rule (“PFS”), which was published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2019 (available here), CMS finalized changes to the advisory opinion process under the...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released two proposed rules restructuring the Physician Self-Referral...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued its annual Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program Proposed Rule for calendar year 2020. Among other things, it addresses potential changes to...more
On July 29, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the CY 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule, which included substantial changes to the physician self-referral law (Stark Law)...more
On July 29, 2019, CMS released the Calendar Year (CY) 2020 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule updates payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services...more
On November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2019 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (PFS Rule), which contains a number of significant substantive changes to Medicare payment practices...more
Regulation - CMS Contemplating Telemedicine Changes - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published what it described as a "major proposed rule" that covers a number of topics that could have...more
On February 9, President Trump signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (“BBA”) into law. The BBA funds the federal government through March 23 and included a bipartisan agreement to increase annual spending authority for a...more
On July 25, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by voice vote a bipartisan bill which is now in the Senate’s hands for consideration, the Medicare Part B Improvement Act of 2017. The bill would amend the Stark Law...more
ALERT: "No Contract" Disclaimer in Employee Handbook Upheld by Illinois CourtAuthor: Employee handbooks have long been a trap for the unwary employer that desires merely to establish a set of rules and policies without...more
The Department of Health and Human Services Center for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently finalized the Calendar Year 2017 Physician Fee Schedule (“2017 Fee Schedule”), which includes a restatement of a provision...more
On November 15, 2016, as part of its 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule update, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reissued its prohibition on certain unit-based rental arrangements with referring physicians,...more
On July 7, 2016, CMS issued a proposed rule that updates payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after January 1, 2017 (Proposed...more
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the 2016 Medicare Fee Schedule (the "Schedule") in an effort to facilitate compliance with the Physician Self-Referral Law (the "Stark Law"). Generally, absent an...more
On November 16, 2015 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the final Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (Final MPFS). The Final MPFS addresses changes to the physician fee schedule and related policies,...more
In a development that is limited in scope but still welcomed by hospitals, the proposed 2016 Physician Fee Schedule proposes a number of new exceptions to the physician self-referral or Stark law and other refinements that...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") recently released the proposed 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (the "Proposed Rule"), which includes a number of proposed revisions to the regulations under the...more
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a favorable advisory opinion (Advisory Opinion) to a nonprofit health system (System) and a nonprofit psychiatric hospital (Center) regarding a proposal whereby the...more
The federal physician self-referral ban or Stark law has been a part of the legal landscape for almost 25 years. The breadth of the law’s prohibitions, its strict liability formulation and draconian remedies have made it the...more
On July 15, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the calendar year (CY) 2016 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule. In addition to updating several traditional Part B payment policies, the...more