Home Health & Hospice Week
Provide Patient Transport Under New AKS Safe Harbor
Are you sailing in a safe harbor of the Anti-Kickback Statute? Consult the HHS Office of Inspector General’s new final rule updating the harbors to be sure.
In one new safe harbor, the OIG OKs “eligible entities” to provide free or discounted transportation for established patients for medically necessary services. The watchdog agency had been considering excluding home health agencies as eligible entities for the safe harbor.
“For many of the reasons cited by commenters, we have concluded that home health agencies should not be excluded from the definition of ‘eligible entity,’” the OIG concludes in the rule published in the Dec. 7 Federal Register.
Watch out: That safe harbor still comes with many limitations, notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in its member newsletter. For instance, a 25-mile (urban) or 50-mile (rural) mileage limit.
See more details about the new safe harbour and other changes in the rule at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-12-07/pdf/2016-28297.pdf.
Home Health & Hospice Week
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Provide Patient Transport Under New AKS Safe Harbor
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