Global Compliance Trainings, Online
2014-01-22
The webinar will provide an overview of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), a review what it prohibits, and the Statute’s available safe harbors. It will also show how violation of the AKS can raise FCA concerns, and it will provide an assessment of enforcement activities, showing how health care providers and organizations may be at risk. Additionally, the webinar will review recent cases and show how they potentially impact participants. The webinar will provide an in-depth review of the AKS, focusing on what is prohibited under the Act and what the exceptions are. We will also review the case law, particularly the early case law that sets the stage and basis for how the courts interpret the law. Since one of the exceptions to enforcement under the Act is regulations promulgated by the Secretary, the “safe harbors,” payment practices that will not be subject to criminal prosecution and that will not provide a basis for civil monetary penalties or exclusion from the Medicare or Medicaid programs, we will review these safe harbors, particularly those more frequently used, to show how protection from enforcement can be achieved. Specifically, we will review the investment, space and equipment rental, personal services/management contracts, and physician recruitment safe harbors. In addition, we will discuss the Joint Venture Advisory Opinion from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), where a hospital expands into a related service line by contracting with an existing provider of that service. The OIG has significant problems with such an arrangement. We will as well discuss the recent advisory opinion by the OIG regarding Physician-Owned Entities (PODs). OIG views PODs as inherently suspect under the AKS because the opportunity for a referring physician to earn a profit, including through an investment in an entity for which he or she generates business, could constitute illegal remuneration under the AKS. Finally, the webinar will review various cases to show how easy it is to run afoul of the Statute, and how the courts view compliance with it.
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