Epstein Becker Green Audio Conference: The Government's Intensified Interest in Academic Medical Centers' and Teaching Institutions' Financial Relationships With Physicians

Recently there has been renewed government interest in the financial relationships by and among the various components of an academic medical center (AMC) including the affiliated hospitals, faculty practices, physicians and physician groups and the teaching institutions including the medical schools. The government is imposing disclosure requirements and there have been new government fraud investigations.

Please join attorneys from Epstein Becker Green's Health and Life Sciences Practice for a ninety-minute Audio Conference that examines the government's interest and recent developments involving the funds flow in the academic medical center setting, including an in-depth discussion on the recent fraud investigation initiated by the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) surrounding Northwestern Memorial Hospital's contractual relationships with physician groups. These Epstein Becker Green attorneys have significant experience representing AMCs in a wide variety of regulatory, operational and strategic business issues and have helped AMCs structure and implement effective relationships between and among the hospital(s), faculty practice and medical school. The attorneys also have experience advising academic institutions on compliance issues, responding to government investigations and litigation involving biomedical and human subject research.

Learning points and key questions to be answered:

• Overview of how and why the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, (CMS) developed an exception to the Federal Physician Self-Referral Law (i.e., the Stark Law) for AMCs
• Lessons to be learned from US ex rel. Villafane v. Solinger, the first federal court case interpreting the Stark Law's AMC exception as well as analyzing these financial relationships under the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute
• Recent Developments in CMS and OIG interpretation under the Stark Law and Federal Anti-Kickback Statute affecting AMCs
• Developing an action plan for analyzing (and potentially restructuring) these financial relationships
• The disclosure requirements to CMS and the Internal Revenue Service of routine financial relationships

Attendees that will benefit from this conference:

• In House Attorneys
• Executives for Teaching Hospitals and Academic Medical Centers
• Executives for Universities/Schools of Medicine
• Executives for Faculty Practice Plans

Speakers:

• Jana Kolarik Anderson
• Beth Essig
• Marci Handler
• David Matyas
• Carrie Valiant