Key Stark Law Considerations When Buying or Selling Physician Practices

Knowledge of how to manage compliance and enterprise risk by ensuring that new arrangements are defensible under the Stark Law is a key consideration for healthcare organizations and physician practices that seek to adapt acquisition strategies and transition to more innovative post-transaction models.

Carefully evaluating whether the proposed structure and financial terms comply with Stark’s technical requirements prior to moving forward with any arrangement is critical. Both healthcare organizations and practices should be aware of the key aspects of defensibility. This will prepare them to face a defense should the arrangement get challenged legally.

These and related aspects of key Stark Law considerations when buying or selling physician practices will be discussed in detail at a webinar that MentorHealth, a leading provider of professional training for the areas of healthcare, is organizing on October 23.

Joseph Wolfe, who provides advice and counsel to some of the nation’s largest health systems, hospitals and medical groups, will be the expert at this webinar. Please join in to gain valuable insights into this core aspect of Stark Law considerations when buying or selling physician practices by visiting Mentorhealth  .

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This webinar will focus on the Stark Law’s underlying technical requirements and key tenets of defensibility as they apply to physician practice acquisitions. Joseph will provide an overview of the Stark Law, including its 2016 changes.

Understanding of the best practices for negotiating and drafting physician practice acquisition arrangements on behalf of health systems, hospitals, medical groups and physician practices, will be offered.

Another core part of this webinar is the focus it will make on regulatory requirements, key provisions, and valuation considerations and on the best practices for drafting purchase agreements and the related financial terms. The expert will also highlight potential pitfalls that should be avoided when going ahead with such acquisitions.

Aimed at the benefit of personnel who are involved in buying or selling physician practices, such as in-house counsel, healthcare compliance officers, healthcare human resources, healthcare CFO’s and healthcare executives; this webinar will cover the following areas:

• Provide a general Stark Law overview
• Examine critical regulatory requirements related to physician practice acquisitions
• Discuss best practices for drafting purchase agreements and the related financial terms
• Discuss best practice for drafting post transactions service arrangements (e.g., employment, professional services, etc.) and the related financial terms
• Review processes for documenting fair market value and commercial reasonableness

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About the speaker: An attorney with Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C., the largest healthcare focused law firm in the country, Joseph provides advice and counsel to some of the nation’s largest health systems, hospitals and medical groups on a variety of healthcare issues.

He regularly counsels clients on a national basis regarding compliance-focused physician compensation and alignment strategies, and is a frequent speaker on issues related to the physician self-referral statute (Stark Law), hospital-physician transactions, physician compensation governance and healthcare valuation issues.

 

Designing Compliant Physician Compensation Models With Stark Law Reform on the Horizon

For any healthcare organization, developing compensation models that will bring success to their physician enterprise is a primary objective. Any new compensation model that any healthcare organization designs must comply with the Stark Law, failing which it can be punished by law for noncompliance.

How do organizations know how to design a compensation model that will not only comply with the provisions set out by the Stark Law, but also turns out to be profitable? This is the valuable learning a webinar from MentorHealth, a renowned provider of professional training for all the areas of healthcare, is imparting at a webinar it is organizing on August 7.

Joseph Wolfe, an attorney with Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C., the largest healthcare focused law firm in the country, will be the expert at this webinar. Kindly visit https://www.mentorhealth.com/webinar/designing-compliant-physician-compensation-models-with-stark-law-reform-on-the-horizon-801749LIVE to register for this session and understand ways of designing a lucrative and compliant compensation model.

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Joseph will explain the ways of carrying out the analysis needed to put a compensation practice that is compliant with the provisions set out in the Stark Law. Should the changes that the government is planning to introduce into the Stark Law later this year come into effect, it could carry implications for a healthcare practice. Joseph will analyze that potential impact that these changes could bring.

Professionals and personnel whose work involves understanding and implementing the provisions of the Stark Law, such as in-house counsel, healthcare compliance officers, healthcare human resources, healthcare CFO’s and healthcare executives, will benefit in many ways from the learning offered at this webinar, at which Joseph will discuss best practices for structuring and evaluating new compensation models.

Other areas of importance to this topic, such as regulatory requirements, key provisions, and valuation considerations and potential pitfalls that should be avoided when designing a new model, will all be analyzed threadbare at this webinar.

Joseph will cover the following areas at this webinar:

• Legal and Regulatory Overview (e.g., Stark, Anti-Kickback, etc.)
• Critical Components of Compliant Compensation Models
• Processes for Documenting Fair Market Value and Commercial Reasonableness
• Best Practices for Auditing Compensation Plan Implementation
• Common Compensation Models in the Industry based On Specialty
• Potential Changes to the Stark Law

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About the expert: Joseph Wolfe provides advice and counsel to some of the nation’s largest health systems, hospitals and medical groups on a variety of healthcare issues. He regularly counsels clients on a national basis regarding compliance-focused physician compensation and alignment strategies.

He is a frequent speaker on issues related to the physician self-referral statute (Stark Law), hospital-physician transactions, physician compensation governance and health care valuation issues.

 

Understanding the Anti-Kickback Statute is a must for healthcare providers and professionals

A proper understanding of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) is completely necessary for healthcare providers and professionals.  It is among the strongest weapons in the government arsenal for enforcing the federal fraud and abuse laws. Along with Stark II (the federal physician anti-referral law), the Anti-Kickback Statute can be and is being used as the basis for an action brought under the Federal False Claims Act.

Recently enacted healthcare laws such as the Affordable Care Act, and the enhancement of enforcement and health care fraud taskforces of late, have combined to greatly strengthen the government’s enforcement resources. The government can now take recourse to what is called “responsible corporate officer doctrine”, which allows it to pin the blame on hospital CEOs and others as being directly responsible for the fraud.

What happens when the provisions of the Anti-Kickback Statute are not implemented properly and thoroughly? Healthcare providers end up coughing huge amounts of money as penalties. Two recent related cases -The Christ Hospital case in Cincinnati, where settlement cost more than $100 million, and the Hardeman Memorial Hospital case in Texas, with a settlement of close to half a million dollars -serve as an indication of how severe the penalties for nonenforcement of the provisions of AKS can be.

Penalties can be in other forms, too. Take the instance of the same Hardeman case. The CEO, Angela Edwards, was awarded an imprisonment term of over two years, and was ordered to pay restitution of more than a third of a million dollars.

Complete learning of the AKS from the expert

In view of all these, does it need iteration that complete and thorough knowledge of the AKS and the ways of implementing it is an absolute must for healthcare professionals and providers?

This is the learning a webinar from MentorHealth, a leading provider of professional trainings in all the areas of healthcare, will be providing. Dr. William Mack Copeland, who is president of Executive & Managerial Development Group, a consulting entity that provides compliance and other fraud and abuse related services and is a frequent author and speaker on health law topics; will be the speaker at this webinar. To gain complete knowledge of how the provisions of the Anti-Kickback statute apply to healthcare professionals and providers; please enroll for this session.

The Anti-Kickback statute and its safe harbors

This webinar will explain how violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) can raise False Claims Act concerns, and will provide an assessment of enforcement activities, showing how participants may be at risk. The speaker will discuss 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. In this section, Dr. Copeland will explain the more frequently used safe harbors to show how protection from enforcement can be achieved. In particular, he will take up matters relating to the investment, space and equipment rental, personal services/management contracts, and physician recruitment safe harbors for review.

The OIG’s Joint Venture Advisory Opinion

Dr. Copeland will also discuss the OIG’s Joint Venture Advisory Opinion concerning a hospital that expands into a related service line by contracting with an existing provider of that service. The OIG has reservations with such an arrangement. In addition, the recent advisory opinion by the OIG regarding Physician-Owned Entities will be taken up for discussion. About this aspect, this is the OIG’s viewpoint; PODs are inherently suspect under the AKS because the OIG considers the opportunity for a referring physician to earn a profit, including through an investment in an entity for which he or she generates business, as illegal remuneration under the AKS.

The speaker will present examples of various cases in which the courts have judged compliance with it. He will review recent cases and show how they potentially impact participants. He will also review the case law, particularly the early case law that sets the stage and basis for how the courts interpret the law.

Healthcare executives, physicians and other health care providers who participate in and receive remuneration from Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs such as TriCare will find this session highly useful. Dr. Copeland will cover the following areas at this webinar:

• Federal Civil Anti-Kickback Statute
• Safe Harbors providing protection under the AKS
• Enforcement activities involving the AKS
• The OIG’s Joint Venture Advisory Opinion
• The OIG’s advisory opinion regarding Physician-Owned Entities and
• The anti-fraud provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

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