Home Health & Hospice Week

Compliance just got trickier.

Take a new look at any payment arrangements you may have with referring physicians--or you could wind up paying the price of noncompliance.

On Aug. 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a long-awaited final rule interpreting the Stark law's prohibitions and exceptions governing referrals physicians make to HHAs and other entities in which they may have a financial interest.

Early caution: The rule calls into question an exception for indirect compensation, which protects arrangements in which payment flows to a corporation rather than to physicians directly. Though it will be harder in the future to use that exception, the final rule grandfathers in current contracts with such corporations.

The rule is set to go into effect 90 days after its publication in the Federal Register (expected on Sept. 5). To see the rule, go to www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianSelfReferral/04a_regphase3.asp.