by Michael Burke | Oct 19, 2015 | Health Law
The 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“MPFS”) published on July 15, 2015 contains several proposals related to the Stark self-referral regulations. Certain of these proposals are designed to ease technical burdens that have caused many self-disclosures to the government as a result of technical violations of Stark. Other proposals relate to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) suggesting the addition of new exceptions for the recruitment of non-physician practitioners and for timeshare arrangements (which ultimately may be more confusing than clarifying). This article will examine the key proposals contained in the proposed 2016 MPFS as they relate to Stark. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Under the current Stark Regulations, parties have thirty (30) days from the commencement date to sign an agreement if parties know that the agreement is unsigned and ninety (90) days to sign an agreement if the parties are unaware that the agreement is unsigned. Under the proposed regulation, all signatures could be obtained within ninety (90) days of the commencement date of the agreement so long as all the requirements of the exception (other than the signature requirement) were satisfied. CMS proposes to clarify that where a Stark exception requires a one-year term, this requirement could be satisfied if the agreement does not specify a one-year term and the arrangement actually lasts for at least one (1) year or the parties terminate the arrangement during the first year and then do not enter into a similar arrangement that was the subject of the agreement for the remainder of the first year. While Stark does not change the requirement found in certain exceptions...
