Question: Are doctors’ offices allowed to give out gift cards or other gift-type incentives for patients? I always get nervous around the holidays that someone will act out of generosity but with unintended consequences.
Minnesota Subscriber
Answer: Gift cards in particular have come under scrutiny from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and may not be compliant with the Nominal Value Exception.
“The OIG [Office of Inspector General] has taken the position that incentives that are only nominal in value (other than cash or cash equivalents) are not prohibited by the statute and currently interprets ‘nominal value’ to mean no more than $15 per item or $75 in the aggregate per patient on an annual basis,” the OCR says.
Gift cards to “big box” stores may seem especially convenient for patients, because they could utilize them almost anywhere. However, the OCR believes that gift cards to these stores are problematic because the stores sell such a wide variety of items that gift cards are basically the equivalent of cash, which isn’t covered by the Nominal Value Exception.
While your practice may want to demonstrate its appreciation for patients with a gift, gift cards probably aren’t the most compliant choice.
Rachel Dorrell, MA, MS, CPC-A, CPPM, Development Editor, AAPC
