Anjali N.C. Downs, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Clinical Neurology News, in “HHS Floats Stark/Anti-Kickback Revisions to Support Value-Based Care,” by Alicia Gallegos.
Following is an excerpt:
Federal health officials are seeking to update provisions of the Stark Physician Self-Referral law and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute in an effort to encourage more physicians to enter into value-based care arrangements.
The long-awaited reforms would create permanent exemptions and safe harbors to protect doctors participating in legitimate value-based arrangements. If finalized, the proposals also would offer flexibility for innovation and improved care coordination, while easing the compliance burden for health care professionals and maintaining safeguards against actual fraud and abuse, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. …
The proposals include guidance on several requirements that must be met for physicians and health care providers to comply with the Stark Law. For example, compensation provided to a doctor by another health care provider generally must be at fair-market value. As part of the proposals, the HHS offers guidance on how to determine if compensation meets this requirement and provides clarity on a range of other technical compliance requirements.
If the rules are approved, more physicians may be encouraged to become part of value-based arrangements, according to Anjali N.C. Downs, a health law attorney based in Washington.
“As stakeholders have long known, physicians are key components to achieving value-based health care delivery and payment systems,” Ms. Downs said in an interview. “The proposed rules remove regulatory barriers that chill physician’s willingness and ability to participate in or even consider participating in integrated care delivery models, alternative payment models, and incentive based arrangements based on outcomes and reductions in cost.”
