Stark & Anti-Kickback Law

When it comes to healthcare law, few regulations are as critical and as complex as the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). This federal law prohibits the exchange of anything of value to induce or [...]

Kickbacks are improper payments or compensation made in exchange for preferential treatment, services, or referrals. They are illegal in many industries, especially in regulated sectors like [...]

The Stark Law, also known as the Physician Self-Referral Law, is a federal statute that prohibits physicians from referring patients for certain designated health services (DHS) payable by [...]

Learn the key compliance requirements for the Stark Law, covering prohibited self-referrals, permissible exceptions, and risk mitigation strategies for healthcare practices. Insights from Cohen [...]

Learn essential Anti-Kickback Statute compliance strategies for healthcare providers and facilities, including safe harbor provisions and risk management tips. Insights from Cohen Healthcare Law Group.

A federal court and an appellate court ruled that Pfizer’s attempts to help patients with copay and deductible payments violates the AKS even if Pfizer acted with good intent.

Ambulatory surgery centers are attractive to doctors and patients due to reduced wait times, better control over infections, and other reasons – provided the ASCs do not violate the AKS or Stark Law.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) identified 18 waivers to Stark Law’s prohibition against self-referrals. The waivers are based on the form of remuneration and the type of financial [...]

Violations of the AKS and Stark Law are usually violations of the False Claims Act. Penalties can include treble damages and exclusion from Medicaid and Medicare Payments

The CMS and HHA are proposing new rules, such as the Patients over Paperwork Initiative, where the focus of Stark and AKS will be on value-based arrangements

The DOJ reported several new cases in which health care companies and doctors agreed to pay millions to settle claims of healthcare fraud due to AKS and Stark violations.

The DOJ reported several new cases in which health care companies and doctors agreed to pay millions to settle claims of healthcare fraud due to AKS and Stark violations.

The Stark Law is named after California U.S. Congressman, Peter Stark. It seeks to regulate how physicians refer Medicare and Medicaid patients. The law is part of the Omnibus Budget [...]

Growing Pains in Your Healthcare Practice or Healthcare Venture? We’ve had many clinical practices and healthcare ventures come to us asking how to mitigate risk of anti-kickback and [...]

An RN who is working on getting her NP recently called our law firm, asking whether he was engaging in illegal “fee-splitting” in her compensation arrangement with a physician. Physician [...]

Substance abuse treatment centers must steer carefully when sending patients for labs. Self-referral, anti-kickback, and fee-splitting rules can create legal enforcement issues and must be [...]

Is it fee-splitting to hire another medical doctor, chiropractor, acupuncturist, or other health care practitioner in your office and give them a “cut” of patient revenues? Fee-splitting, [...]

Do retrospective physician bonuses violate anti-kickback laws? Well they are problematic.

Healthcare bonuses raise fee-splitting and anti-kickback issues; is there a workaround?

Are physician online dietary supplement sales, kickbacks or fee-splitting?

If you're a medical doctor, dentist, acupuncturist, chiropractor, or other licensed healthcare provider, and you offer your patients "9 sessions, get 1 free," have you violated kickback laws?

"I provide medical (or acupuncture, chiropractic, osteopathic, massage) services on an hourly basis and get paid a percentage of revenues in return.” Is that fee-splitting?

Many online ventures want to know whether Stark, anti-kickback, and fee-splitting laws are violated by business arrangements that offer online coupons or Web-based coupons to customers. Let's [...]

Many healthcare ventures seek to avoid corporate practice of medicine (or psychology) and fee-splitting violations, but they need to first understand how deeply down the rabbit hole these [...]

Here is a quick summary of federal self-referral ("Stark law") and anti-kickback law, and California self-referral and anti-kickback / fee-splitting rules. Each state has its own laws, of course.

Many physicians, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and other healthcare practitioners want to know whether they are fee-splitting when they rent a room hourly from a medical practice or other [...]

Is it fee-splitting to hire another medical doctor, chiropractor, acupuncturist, or other health care practitioner in your office and give them a "cut" of patient revenues? Fee-splitting, [...]