Recent guidance from the New York State Office of the Professions (OP) suggests that the agency did not entirely reject Internet coupons or vouchers that many refer to as “Groupons.” The OP did, however, affirm concerns previously expressed here that offering coupons for medical services requires careful consideration.
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In a recent advisory opinion, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) nixed a proposed arrangement whereby a multi-regional laboratory (Lab) sought to provide free services to out-of-network patients in exchange for exclusivity in referrals from the physicians. “Physicians who enter into compensation arrangements such as medical directorships must ensure that those arrangements reflect fair market value for bona fide services the physicians actually provide,” warns the new fraud alert published by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently issued two reports reminding providers and suppliers of the importance of carefully vetting their business arrangements before signing on the dotted lines. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a special fraud alert (Alert) in June concerning suspect arrangements between laboratories and physicians that raise Anti-Kickback statute (AKS) concerns. Medical space leasing requires more consideration and deeper analysis than typical commercial leases. Various federal and state laws regulate financial relationships of medical providers which in turn dictate the terms of a lease. A new advisory opinion from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services nixed a proposed arrangement between an independent clinical laboratory and physician groups highlighting the intense scrutiny of lab-physician agreements. What’s the difference between the federal physician self-referral law — commonly referred to as the Stark law — and the antikickback statute? We highlighted some of the main distinctions. Many medical and dental boards, as well as professional organizations, received numerous questions from their members concerning the appropriateness of physician advertising on Groupon, LivingSocial or similar social marketers. Last year, the American Dental Association (ADA) warned its members of the potential legal pit-falls associated with groupon-type advertising. The ADA Council on Ethics has now amended its Code of Ethics to address such advertisement arrangements. Social media advertising continues to be a widely discussed topic in the dental and medical community with many providers wondering whether to Groupon or not to Groupon. Are companies like Groupon and LivingSocial adjusting to special concerns from the healthcare community? Groupon-type advertising is all the rage now but serious legal, ethical and contractual questions exist for medical and dental practices that need to be examined prior to entering into such arrangements. We have previously addressed this evolving issue in several articles on this website by evaluating some of the implications such arrangements have for providers. One of our articles was just published in the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons’ (AAOMS) bimonthly publication, Practice Management Notes. We are pleased to bring it to you here. The Antikickback statute is a law that seeks to regulate the financial relationships between physicians and/or other provider entities where there is a possibility of patient referrals for items or services reimbursable by a Federal health care program. In this, it is much like the Stark Law, about which we wrote in the past. Watch this Bloomberg TV report filed by Shannon Pettypiece titled “Groupon Deals on Botox, Lasik Eye Surgery?” It appeared on Bloomberg TV on the morning show of October 25th as part of Shannon’s daily “Stock Therapy” segment that examines how the latest health care trends are affecting the markets and the economy. Groupon and other similar social sites, like Living Social and CoupTessa, are all the rage now. But is it legal for doctors and dentists to advertise their services on these websites? More likely than not, a physician or a dentist has at one point provided discounted or free healthcare services to some patients by waiving all or part of a fee or the copayment and/or coinsurance obligations as a “professional courtesy”. According to the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Compliance Program For Individual and Small Group In addition to any state laws that may impact a doctor’s practice, the main civil Federal laws and their implementing regulations that concern physicians are the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Physician Self Referral Act (often called the Stark Law), the Exclusion Statute, and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. An additional law that |
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