Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

If you run afoul of Stark, here's a potentially easier way out. The Affordable Care Act has two more Stark provisions up its sleeve that provide a give-and-take proposition for providers. One provision, which the law refers to as the Medicare self-referral disclosure protocol (SDRP), provides a way for providers with actual or potential Stark (self-referral) violations to come clean. Providers can "confess their sins to the OIG and get special consideration," says attorney Michael Cassidy, in Pittsburgh, Pa. "It's almost like where you can self-disclose to the Internal Revenue Service and therefore don't get the severe penalties," he adds. The reform law directs HHS to establish the disclosure protocol in conjunction with the OIG "not later than six months" after the date of the healthcare reform legislation enactment, which was March 23, 2010. (CMS is supposed to post the protocol on its Web site, according to the law.) The [...]