Practice Management Alert

The Trump Administration has had the physician self-referral law, also known as the Stark Law, in its sights for tape cutting. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule in October 2019 that would create exceptions to the law for “certain value-based based compensation arrangements between or among physicians, providers, and suppliers,” according to the summary of the proposed rule, which is titled “Modernizing and Clarifying the Physician Self-Referral Regulations.”

“It would also create a new exception for certain arrangements under which a physician receives limited remuneration for items or services actually provided by the physician; create a new exception for donations of cybersecurity technology and related services; and amend the existing exception for electronic health records (EHR) items and services,” the rule summary says.

Public comment is open through 5 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. You can read the proposed rule and find the link to submit electronic comment here: www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/17/2019-22028/medicare-program-modernizing-and-clarifying-the-physician-self-referral-regulations.