Tagged: 2018

The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (EKRA): A New Federal Kickback Law Applicable to All Payors

The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (EKRA) became law on October 24, 2018, and is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 220.  As part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act, EKRA was enacted in response to a concern that the federal Anti-Kickback Statute...

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...

FDA Chief and HHS Secretary Cite Prescription Drug Prices as Top Priorities for Agencies; President Trump Scheduled to Speak on Issue on May 11, 2018.

All eyes are on the federal government as top officials have recently signaled upcoming actions which could impact the prices of prescription drugs. In the past two weeks, leaders from both the FDA and HHS have made statements signaling that the agencies are focused on reducing prescription drug prices. In remarks at the Food and...

Stark Law Reform a Focus of Recent Regulatory and Legislative Initiatives; 2018 DHS Code List and CPI-U Updates

Stark Law Reform Initiatives The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma recently identified federal physician self-referral law (or “Stark Law”) reform as a top policy priority and reported that an inter-agency group is being formed to review the law. Specifically, in a January 17 American Hospital Association Town Hall webcast focused...