Loading...

Lab Kickbacks

Written by:

at April 23, 2014

From our friends at The PathologyBlawg.com:

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services was recently asked to assess whether a business arrangement between a clinical laboratory, an electronic health record vendor (EHR) and referring physicians violates the federal anti-kickback statute.

Some of you may be thinking ³Wait, I thought laboratories could no longer provide kickbacks with EHRs as of January 1, 2014.²

That is correct insomuch as labs can no longer donate an EHR to referring physicians, clinics, etc. But the question before the OIG was whether a laboratory can legally pay EHR fees that would normally be incurred by referring physicians.

Here, the OIG found that the payment arrangement for an interface involved ³potentially problematic financial incentives² presenting ³more than a minimal risk² of fraud and abuse under the Federal anti-kickback statute (AKS). Readers should note that the AKS is a federal criminal statute that subjects both parties involved to potential hefty fines, imprisonment and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.

http://pathologyblawg.com/pathology-news/office-inspector-general-says-no-laboratory-ehr-fee-kickbacks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=office-inspector-general-says-no-laboratory-ehr-fee-kickbacks&utm_source=Pathology+Blawg&utm_campaign=f492bd23ff-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d76ed06817-f492bd23ff-64519733

Also, here are two other good reads:

Two more physicians are potentially going to jail related to laboratory kickbacks and bribes. Internist Dr. Charles Goldberg became the 12th physician to plead guilty to accepting bribes from Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services (BLS) in exchange for test referrals. In a separate scheme, Dr. Linda Rosenberg pled guilty to accepting kickbacks from a Chicago-area laboratory.

http://pathologyblawg.com/pathology-news/two-more-docs-plead-guilty-accepting-laboratory-bribes-kickbacks/

The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) recently released an opinion regarding a business proposal by a clinical laboratory ³to contract with physician practices to provide laboratory services to the physicians¹ patients who are not Federal health care program beneficiaries.²

http://pathologyblawg.com/pathology-news/oig-finds-laboratory-business-arrangement-could-constitute-illegal-kickback/

Tags:

SOBER LAW NEWS IS A LEGAL WEBSITE PROVIDING NEWS, COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS ON THE ADDICTION TREATMENT AND RECOVERY SERVICES INDUSTRIES. THE ARTICLES REPOSTED ON THIS SITE TAKE AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT CURRENT TRENDS IN THIS DYNAMIC HEALTH CARE SECTOR AND THE LAWS THAT GOVERN ITS REGULATION AND GROWTH. OUR HOPE AND PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE RELEVANT AND ACCURATE INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC AND TO POLICYMAKERS THAT WILL HELP GUIDE THE PROVISION OF ADDICTION TREATMENT OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO TRANSPARENT, MAINSTREAM HEALTH CARE. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEBSITE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS INTENDED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE. ANY QUESTIONS OF A LEGAL NATURE SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO AN ATTORNEY, AND THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE LEGAL ADVICE FROM A LICENSED ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE. BY USING THIS WEBSITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU MAY NOT RELY UPON OR REFER TO THE CONTENTS AS BEING LEGAL ADVICE OR GUIDANCE PROVIDED BY JEFFREY C. LYNNE, ESQ., WITHOUT HIS PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.

Comments

Loading Disqus Comments ...

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This