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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Reader Question:

Do You Really Want To Go Nuclear With Competitors' Kickbacks?

Published on Mon Sep 03, 2012

Use these steps below to weigh your options before responding.Question: In this day and age of acute sensitivity to fraud and abuse, I have a question that directly relates to covertly or indirectly paying for referrals. In our small community we have a fellow home health agency that also has DME and infusion divisions. They are separate providers but share the same name. They take discharge planners and physicians out to happy hour monthly and have even taken physicians out golfing that I know of. Can they do this? Perhaps the marketing rules for DME and infusion therapy are more liberal than what I am familiar with in the home health arena?Answer: "The anti-kickback rules are the same for all providers and suppliers, unless they are subject to a specific exception," explains attorney Marie Berliner with Joy & Young in Austin, Texas, "There is no exception for DME or infusion."The [...]
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