Lake Pointe Medical Center has become the first hospital in America to qualify for (i) an exception to (ii) the limitation on the (iii) grandfather exception to the (iv) elimination of the (v) whole-hospital exception to the (vi) Stark Law’s prohibition on physician self-referrals. The Stark Law generally …
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS—AND IN DAYTONA OF ALL PLACES
April 8, 2014 Leave a Comment
Last month Halifax Hospital, in Daytona, Florida, agreed to pay $85 million to settle part of a suit brought by the federal government and a whistleblower (who is an employee of the hospital) for violations of the Stark Law. The part that was settled centered on improperly providing incentives to physicians for …
PHYSICIAN GROUPS URGE CONTINUATION OF STARK IN-OFFICE EXCEPTION
April 2, 2014 Leave a Comment
Thirty-one professional associations of physicians are urging Congress not to end the “in-office ancillary services exception” to the Stark Law’s general prohibition against referring Medicare patients to services when the referring physician has a financial interest in the services. The coalition, which …
$85 MILLION SETTLEMENT WITH DOJ IN HALIFAX HOSPITAL STARK CASE
March 5, 2014 Leave a Comment
Facing as much as $1.1 billion in damages and civil penalties and having already spent more than $15 million in legal fees, Halifax Hospital in Daytona Florida averted jury selection in its upcoming trial by reaching an $85 million tentative settlement with the Department of Justice, according to the …
Hospital’s Compensation of Employed Physicians Violates Stark Law
November 25, 2013 Leave a Comment
A federal court’s November 13 ruling demonstrates that a hospital’s compensation of physicians can violate the Stark Law’s prohibition against paying for Medicare referrals, even when the physicians are the hospital’s own employees and their payment pool is distributed in proportion to their …
CMS Publishes FAQs Limiting SRDP Financial Analysis to Four-Year Reopening Period
April 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
CMS has released four new FAQs regarding the applicable reopening period and “look back” period for potential Stark violations disclosed through the voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP). The new FAQs clarify that a disclosing party may limit both (i) its disclosure of the total amount of …