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);

§…

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its fiscal year 2008 Work Plan, identifying investigation projects for the coming fiscal year relating to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Following is a copy of pages 3 through 13 of the 2008 OIG Work Plan, which identify the investigation projects for hospitals and physicians.Continue Reading OIG Issues 2008 Work Plan

MORE STARK III CHANGES:

PHYSICIAN RECRUITMENT

There have been a number of definitional or technical changes to the physician recruitment exception.

·        The definition of the hospital’s geographic service area, which was previously the area composed of these contiguous zip codes from which the hospital drew 75% of its inpatients, has been tweaked to…

CMS ISSUES STARK ADVISORY OPINION PROHIBITING

 AMENDMENT OF RECRUITMENT AGREEMENT

On October 3, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Advisory Opinion CMS – AO – 2007 – 01 denying permission to the hospital and physician to revise a physician recruitment agreement. The proposed amendment would have deleted and “excess receipts provision, which…

OIG ADVISORY OPINION 07-10 APPROVES CALL PAY

On September 27, 2007, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services posted OIG Advisory Opinion No. 07-10 which approves a tax exempt hospital proposal for compensating physicians for on call coverage. While acknowledging that on call compensation potentially creates considerable risk that…

STARK III REGULATIONS TEXT

CMS issued the revised Stark III Regulations to be effective as of December 4, 2007. The text of the regulations is accessible at the link below, and the Med Law Blog will publish a number of short posts over the next two months highlighting certain changes prior to that effective date.

The…

CMS Issues Final Stark Phase III Regulations

Stark Phase III Regulations

On August 27, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) placed on display at the Office of the Federal Register a final rule on physician "self-referral" of Medicare beneficiaries for certain types of Medicare-covered services. The rule is commonly known as "Stark…

Congressman Pete Stark has proposed a new piece to the Stark legislation which would eliminate the existing “whole hospital” exception for a physician ownership by inserting a provision into H.R. 3162, the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act, which would impose new hospital disclosure requirements and new physician ownership limitations. The text of the provision follows…