2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Delays Stark Rules

2008 MEDICARE PHYSICIAN FEE SCHEDULE DELAYS STARK RULES

CMS announced in the 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule that the following proposed revisions will not be finalized until the future publication of a final rule:

§                     burden of proof;

§                     obstetrical malpractice insurance subsidies;

§                     unit of service (per click);

§                     payments in lease arrangements;

§                     the period of this allowance for noncompliant financial relationships;

§                     ownership or investment interest in retirement plans;

§                     set in advance and percentage based compensation arrangements;

§                     "stand in the shoes" provisions;

§                     alternative criteria for satisfying certain exceptions; and

§                     services furnished under arrangements.

The changes to reassignment and physician self-referral rules relating to diagnostic tests, i.e., the anti-markup provisions, will become final effective January 1, 2008 then will be addressed in a later post on the Med-Law blog.