Category: Anti-Kickback

American Health Law Association 2022 Health Care Transaction Conference

After a 2-year hiatus, health care transactional attorneys and related industry professionals descended upon Nashville, TN April 25th – 27th for the 2022 American Health Law Association (“AHLA”) Health Care Transactions Conference. Aside from hot chicken and honky tonks, this conference was largely a celebration of the strength and resiliency of the health care industry...

The “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” – Overview and Links to Further Resources from Dorsey & Whitney

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) launched the “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” to accelerate a transformation of the healthcare system, with a focus on removing “unnecessary obstacles” to coordinated care (the “Regulatory Sprint”). Several HHS agencies requested comments and information from the public and have published new or proposed...

White Papers: Understanding the Final Rules to Revise the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute and Beneficiary Inducement Civil Monetary Penalty Regulations

In just two weeks, on January 19, 2021, a sweeping set of changes to the federal physician self-referral law (or “Stark Law”) and anti-kickback statute (“AKS”) regulations go into effect.  These changes, which are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care,” are the most significant changes...

OIG Skeptical of Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Speaker Programs

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has issued a Special Fraud Alert to highlight what it views as inherent risks associated with speaker programs that pharmaceutical and medical device companies organize and fund. These programs are typically company-sponsored events at which one or more physicians or other health care...

CMS Finalizes Changes to the Stark Advisory Opinion Regulations; 2020 DHS Code List and CPI-U Updates

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 federal physician self-referral law (“Stark Law” or “Stark”).  CMS also published its annual update to CPT/HCPCS codes used to identify...

A Massive Number of New Health Law Regulatory Proposals as Part of the “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care”: Proposed Changes to the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, Beneficiary Inducement CMP, Privacy Laws Governing Substance Use Disorder Records, and the Stark Law Advisory Opinion Process

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) each released their long-anticipated proposed rules to revise the federal self-referral law (or “Stark Law”) regulations, the safe harbors under the federal anti-kickback statute (AKS), and the civil monetary penalty law (CMP)...

Proposed Drug Rebate and PBM Service Fee Regulations Abandoned by Administration

As reported here in February, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two new significant proposed regulations that would have had a transformative effect on the drug discount and rebate arrangements that are commonplace between pharmaceutical manufacturers and Medicare Part D Plans and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (and...

CMS “Actively Working” on Stark Law Reforms to be Issued Later this Year; “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” Continues

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is “actively working” on updates to regulations under the federal physician self-referral law (or “Stark Law”), according to CMS Administrator Seema Verma during a March 4, 2019 speech. Verma stated that the updated regulations will be issued later this year, and “will represent the most significant changes...

OIG Seeks Public Input on Anti-Kickback Statute and Beneficiary Inducements CMP as part of the “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care”

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has identified the anti-kickback statute (AKS) and beneficiary inducements civil monetary penalty (CMP) as potential barriers to arrangements that could promote better patient care coordination and value-based arrangements.  On August 27, 2018, the OIG published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input...