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
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
Community Health Network (CHN) in Indiana has agreed to pay $345 million to settle false claims allegations that it paid over-the-top salaries to hundreds of physicians and rewarded them for their referrals in violation of...more
In a case that may hit a raw compliance nerve, Ascension Macomb Oakland Hospital in Michigan has agreed to pay $100,000 in a settlement with the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) over free services provided to certain...more
On November 6, 2023, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a General Compliance Program Guidance (GCPG) as part of its plan to renovate its library of compliance program...more
Hospitals play a vital role in ensuring the well-being of communities by recruiting and employing skilled physicians. However, physician recruitment in compliance with the Stark Law can be a complex task for hospital...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
The recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2023 includes a new Stark Law exception and Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) safe harbor, allowing hospitals and other health care entities to offer their physicians...more
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently posted Advisory Opinion 22-20, approving an acute care hospital’s arrangement under which its employed nurse practitioners...more
Hospitals and Other Providers Should Make Sure Any Items or Services of Value That They Provide to Their Referring Physicians To Alleviate Burnout Comply With the Stark Law - Amidst the ongoing labor market shortages and...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Flower Mound Hospital Partners LLC, a partially physician-owned hospital in Flower Mound, Texas, agreed to pay $18.2 million to settle its alleged violations of the False...more
One year ago – in early 2020 – most of us did not know what COVID-19 meant (co-Corona; vi-Virus; d-disease; 19 – 2019); had no idea how to “zoom”; did not know what social distance meant; and, were largely unfamiliar with...more
Recent updates to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute give providers additional flexibility to enter into innovative arrangements, but before doing so, providers must ensure they understand the safe harbor requirements...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 30, no. 4 (February 1, 2021) - Saint Peter’s University Hospital and New Brunswick Cardiac Cath Lab LLC in New Jersey have agreed to pay $3.04 million to settle a civil monetary penalty case...more
On November 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Office of Inspector General released final rules amending the regulations to the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute and Beneficiary Inducement...more
On November 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule “Modernizing and Clarifying the Physician Self-Referral Regulations” (Final Rule)....more
With a bold finish, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) crossed the finish line of its race to modernize and clarify the regulations interpreting the federal physician self-referral law (Stark) and anti-kickback...more
On April 3, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a policy statement of enforcement discretion (the “Policy Statement”) regarding sanctions under the Federal...more
On March 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approved the waiver request submitted by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) earlier this month (the “Minnesota Waiver”). In addition to...more
On March 30, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex Azar, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary), used his authority under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act to waive...more
Responding to the Coronavirus public health emergency, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) has waived certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including...more
While we are waiting for final disposition of the AKS Safe Harbors and Stark Exceptions proposed in October of 2019, since the comment period expired December 31, 2019 and final rules have not been issued, I thought we should...more
What larger healthcare goals are fueling the proposed revisions to AKS and Stark? What safe harbors and exceptions are introduced in the proposed rules? And what would the potentially transformational changes mean for...more
In this week's episode, Lindsey Rogers-Seitz forecasts a number of critical issues spanning the health care industry that are likely to be points of focus in the coming year. Among these issues, Ms. Rogers-Seitz discusses the...more
This Week in Washington: The House and Senate are back from Thanksgiving recess. Congress is expected to be in session until or about Dec. 20....more
CMS’ 340B Rate Cut Continues to Dampen Hospital Outpatient Expansion Efforts - Hospitals hoping to benefit from favorable 340B drug pricing when acquiring independent physician practices for conversion to hospital...more