On July 12, 2018, CMS included within the CY 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (the “Proposed Rule”) two revisions to Stark Law regulations aimed at further clarifying any actual or perceived differences between current regulations and the recently enacted Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (“2018 BBA”). As we previously reported, Section 50404 of the 2018 BBA … Continue reading
As we previously reported, on February 9, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives approved the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (the “Act”) and President Trump subsequently signed the bill into law. Section 50404 of the Act includes several amendments to the Stark Law. Specifically, Section 50404 endorses recent liberalizations of the Stark Law requirements … Continue reading
In another sign that the Trump administration’s penchant for regulatory flexibility may apply to the federal fraud-and-abuse regulatory regimes, CMS administrator Seema Verma announced during an AHA Town Hall webcast on January 17 that CMS is convening an interagency group to examine possible ways to minimize the regulatory barriers of fraud-and-abuse laws, including the Stark … Continue reading
Federal courts continue to grapple with applying the “materiality” standard that is needed to cause a Stark Law violation or other underlying compliance matter to trigger False Claims Act liability. Although we have recently begun to gain a clearer view of what contractual requirements will not likely be viewed as material, at least one federal … Continue reading
On March 15, a federal district court in the Western District of Pennsylvania endorsed CMS commentary from November 2015 that dramatically liberalized the “written agreement” requirement of core Stark exceptions, thus providing some new insights as to what may be the outer limits of CMS’s new approach. When ruling on cross motions for summary judgment … Continue reading