Recently, a federal agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), released the Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP) to permit providers and suppliers who believed that they are or might be providing services in violation of the federal Stark physician self-referral law (42 U.S.C. § 1395nn) to disclose such actual or potential violation to CMS in the hopes of resolving the matter as favorably as possible.

What is the Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol for Stark Violations and how does it relate to the Office of Inspector General Self-Disclosure Protocol?

The Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol issued by CMS is not the same protocol as the Self-Disclosure Protocol (SDP) issued by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The SRDP is specifically limited to reports of actual or potential violations of the Stark self referral law, so-called “Stark-only” violations. In contrast, the SDP should be used to disclose potential violations based on other federal laws, which can also include a Stark violation but is not a Stark-only violation.