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 June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that overrules the “Chevron doctrine.” This means that federal agencies are limited in their ability to rely on their own interpretation of the laws they...more
As a general rule, healthcare employers are required to pay employed physicians and other contracted providers fair market value (FMV) for their services, but many employers do not understand relevant regulatory standards. ...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for June 2024. We discuss several US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency actions, including guidance regarding hospital...more
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (and its companion case, Relentless v. Department of Commerce), in which it overruled the Chevron doctrine, has received a great deal of attention...more
In early May 2024, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) agreed to pay $38 million to resolve a False Claims Act case based on alleged Stark Law violations. The size of the settlement in United States ex rel. J....more
Meaningful progress has been made in value-based care, but the documented advances in reducing costs and improving patient outcomes have taken place predominately in the primary care sector. Significantly less headway has...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for March 2024. We summarize a US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decision interpreting the intent standard under the federal...more
Leading health authorities have increasingly emphasized how non-medical factors such as socioeconomic status, education, employment, housing, food security, and community support have an outsized impact on health outcomes. By...more
Although often well-intentioned, offering free or discounted items or services to patients (e.g., gifts, rewards, writing off copays, free screening exams, free supplies, etc.) may violate federal and state laws governing...more
On November 15, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Final Rule that will require skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to disclose an expanded array of ownership, managerial, and control information...more
Hear directly from the enforcement community - Want to gain insight into properly monitoring, detecting, investigating, and managing violations? Join us at HCCA’s Annual Healthcare Enforcement Compliance Conference to...more
Fair market value (FMV) is a pinnacle issue with respect to healthcare regulatory compliance and compensation agreements. This article will analyze the issues related to an FMV defensibility analysis of compensation...more
In recognition that the prior versions of the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) rules were not designed for a value-based health care delivery system, the new value-based safe harbors and exceptions (released in late...more
In this episode, Macy Flinchum talks with Limo Cherian and Steven Pine about some of the major takeaways, challenges, and successes that providers have experienced in navigating the new regulatory flexibilities for...more
The OIG offers providers an opportunity to self-report certain violations under its Health Care Fraud Self-Disclosure Protocol. If you uncover a violation of federal healthcare laws or requirements – through your own...more
Concurrent with the termination of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, various regulatory flexibilities will also come to an end, including the blanket waivers to the Stark Law and related enforcement discretion under the...more
The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first declared the existence of a public health emergency (PHE) on January 31, 2020. The PHE allowed HHS to implement a number of regulatory waivers and...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights significant regulatory activity and developments occurring in January 2023, including several criminal and civil enforcement actions related to the federal...more
The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) will expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023, which is less than three months away. In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),...more
Physicians around the country are familiar with the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)) and the Federal Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly referred to as the Stark Law (“Stark”) (42 U.S.C. §...more
Fair market value is a pinnacle issue for compliance under the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute. Compensation arrangements that are required to be representative of fair market value under Stark/AKS include employment,...more
Hear directly from the enforcement community - Want to gain insight into properly monitoring, detecting, investigating, and managing violations? Join us virtually at HCCA’s Annual Healthcare Enforcement Compliance...more
Investment in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) is soaring. Physicians, hospitals, and health systems are attracted by the high margins, significant growth potential, payer influence, and efficient patient care. Beyond...more
In November 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized value-based exceptions under the Stark law, and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) finalized value-based safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback...more
Clinical laboratories have come under increased scrutiny in the past few years, especially those that deal with COVID-19 testing or drug testing. These federal investigations can be surprising and confusing for lab...more