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Transforming Primary Care: CMS Launches Making Care Primary (MCP) Model

August 8, 2023 | Blog | By Rachel Yount, David Gilboa, Stephnie John

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new primary care model—the Making Care Primary (MCP) Model—geared towards smaller, independent primary care practices and organizations that want to participate independently in value-based care initiatives. The MCP Model will be tested in eight states - Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Washington.
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CMS Announces GUIDE – a New Dementia Care Model Designed for Participation by a Range of Providers

August 2, 2023 | Blog | By Rachel Yount

Health care providers furnishing dementia care should take note of a new payment model announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on July 31, 2023, called Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE). GUIDE is designed to improve dementia care, reduce strain on unpaid caregivers, and help people with dementia remain in their homes and communities. Providers participating in GUIDE receive monthly per-beneficiary per-month payments, can bill for respite care services, and are eligible for one-time payments to support infrastructure.
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New Group Practice Information Form for the Stark Law’s Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol

February 2, 2023 | Blog | By Rachel Yount

The Stark Law’s Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP) will include a new Group Practice Information Form for physician practices to report any noncompliance arising from not fully satisfying the Stark Law’s definition for a “group practice,” effective March 1, 2023. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intends for the changes to reduce regulatory burden and streamline the disclosure process.
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CMS Issues Additional Flexibilities to the ACO REACH Model’s Benefit Enhancements

December 16, 2022 | Blog | By Rachel Yount

As Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and providers gear up for the start of the new ACO REACH Model in 2023, CMS recently issued helpful policy updates to the model’s benefit enhancements (BEs). Under BEs, CMS waives certain Medicare payment requirements for services provided to REACH beneficiaries through the REACH ACO’s participant providers and preferred providers. REACH ACOs can opt to use one or more of the BEs, which are designed to create flexibility in managing REACH beneficiaries’ care. REACH ACOs have full control over which providers participate in any BE. As discussed below, CMS recently announced updates to two of the model’s BEs – the 3-Day Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Rule Waiver and the Nurse Practitioner (NP) Services.   
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CMS Announces Changes to the MSSP Designed to Increase MSSP Participation and Promote Equity within the MSSP

November 17, 2022 | Blog | By Rachel Yount

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) designed to improve equity within the MSSP and increase the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries in accountable care arrangements. The changes are included in the Calendar Year 2023 Physician Fee Schedule final rule (Final Rule), which is scheduled for publication on November 18, 2022.
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Combatting Patient Leakage by Directing Physician Referrals: What is Permitted under the Stark Law?

July 29, 2021 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

For many health care systems, patient leakage – when patients leave a health care system’s network in favor of out-of-network providers – is a rampant problem that results in substantial lost revenue. While sometimes patient leakage is just a result of patient choice, often the issue lies with employed or contracted physicians referring patients for services outside the network. Many health care systems may be wary of including in their physician contracts requirements that physicians refer patients exclusively within the network (otherwise known as directed referral requirements) based on concerns with interfering with physicians’ medical judgment and/or the common misconception that the Stark Law prohibits directed referral requirements.

To the contrary, the Stark Law actually permits directed referral requirements, provided that certain conditions are met. CMS recently enacted changes to the Stark Law regulations, effective January 19, 2021, that provide additional clarity on how health care providers can permissibly use directed referral requirements. These recent changes have seemingly triggered new awareness and interest in how health care systems can utilize directed referral requirements to combat patient leakage.
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HHS Finalizes Highly Anticipated Final Rule Amending Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law Regulations, Part VI: Changes to Fundamental Stark Law Terminology

February 8, 2021 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

In this final post of our blog series on the substantial changes to the regulations implementing the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law), we cover change to (i) key Stark Law terminology, and (ii) the scope and application of the Stark Law exceptions. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized new definitions for various key terms used in the Stark Law regulations as well as revisions to existing terms that are generally intended to provide more certainty and flexibility. This post discusses a few of the highlights, but the final regulations contain many others.
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HHS Finalizes Highly Anticipated Final Rule Amending Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law Regulations, Part V: Cybersecurity Technology and Electronic Health Records

February 4, 2021 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

On January 19, 2021, significant changes to the regulations implementing the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law) went into effect. The sweeping changes come through two final rules – one issued by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) addressing changes to the AKS and the Beneficiary Inducements CMP, and one issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) addressing changes to the Stark Law.

In this fifth installment of our blog series covering the changes, we dive into (i) the new AKS safe harbor and Stark Law exception for cybersecurity technology and related services, and (ii) the significant changes to the existing safe harbor and exception for electronic health records (EHR) technology.
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HHS Finalizes Highly Anticipated Final Rules Amending AKS and Stark Law Regulations, Part IV: Changes to Existing Safe Harbors and Stark Law Exceptions

December 11, 2020 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Bridgette Keller, Rachel Yount

As you know, we have been parsing through the HHS rules that finalize important changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) regulations, which go into effect January 19, 2021. Today, we are taking a look at changes to existing AKS safe harbors and Stark Law exceptions, and, an extra add-on: a new Stark Exception for Limited Remuneration to a Physician. Mintz is also hosting a webinar during which we will review the key provisions from the final rules and provide practical examples of how the industry can take advantage of these significant changes. We hope you can join us.
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HHS Finalizes Highly Anticipated Final Rules Amending AKS and Stark Law Regulations, Part III: Value-Based Arrangements

December 7, 2020 | Blog | By Rachel Yount

This third post in our multi-part series on the final rules examines the three new AKS safe harbors and four new Stark Law exceptions that offer protection for value-based arrangements. The primary goal of these final rules is to reduce regulatory barriers and advance the health care industry’s transition to value-based care. Value-based care, often referred to as pay-for-performance, is a payment model that offers health care providers and suppliers financial incentives to meet certain performance measures that improve quality of care or appropriately reduce costs, as opposed to traditional fee-for-service or capitated payments healthcare reimbursement.

Plus, we have prepared easy-to-read comparison charts breaking down the current, proposed, and final regulations. These comparison charts offer a quick way to get up to speed on these voluminous final rules and their many historic changes to the AKS and Stark Law.
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HHS Finalizes Highly Anticipated Final Rules Amending Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law Regulations, Part II: Beneficiary Inducement

December 1, 2020 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount, Jane Haviland

While health care entities often want to provide free or discounted items or services to patients (e.g., free transportation, co-payment waivers, free supplies), these free or discounted items or services pose risk under both the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the civil monetary penalty rules regarding beneficiary inducements (Beneficiary Inducements CMP), so minimizing risk when providing such items or services is important.  Fortunately, as announced last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a final rule making sweeping changes to the regulations implementing the AKS and the Beneficiary Inducements CMP, many of which will result in greater flexibility and reduced administrative burdens for the health care industry. 
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HHS Finalizes Highly Anticipated Final Rules Amending Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law Regulations

November 23, 2020 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

On November 20, 2020, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized significant changes to the regulations implementing the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law), and the civil monetary penalty rules regarding beneficiary inducements (Beneficiary Inducements CMP). The final rules are part of HHS’s Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care and are designed to offer the health care industry more flexibility and to reduce the regulatory burden associated with the AKS and the Stark Law, particularly with respect to value-based arrangements and care coordination. Offering a number of industry-friendly changes, the final rules will have a far-reaching impact on the health care industry.
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CMS Announces One-Year Delay in Finalizing Highly Anticipated Stark Law Reform

August 27, 2020 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

On Wednesday, August 26th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notice extending the deadline to finalize significant proposed changes to the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law) announced last year. CMS published the proposed rule on October 17, 2019 in tandem with a companion proposed rule issued by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) with equally sweeping changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). Both rules were issued as part of CMS’s Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care and offer a number of industry-friendly changes designed to reduce regulatory burden associated with the Stark Law and the AKS and allow for increased adoption of value-based arrangements.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to AKS and Stark Law, Part 6: Proposed Changes to the AKS Related to Beneficiary Inducement

December 18, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount, Jane Haviland

As reported previously, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently published two proposed rules that seek to implement wholesale changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law). This final post in our blog series focuses on a proposed new safe harbor that would protect patient engagement and support arrangements designed to improve quality, efficiency of care, and health outcomes. The OIG is also proposing modifications to the existing safe harbor for local transportation and a new safe harbor for remuneration provided in connection with certain payment and care delivery models developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Center or by the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Lastly, the OIG is codifying an existing statutory safe harbor for Accountable Care Organization (ACO) beneficiary incentives and an existing statutory exception to the Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) rules on beneficiary inducement for telehealth technology related to in-home dialysis services.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to AKS and Stark Law, Part 5: Proposed Changes to Key Stark Law Requirements and Numerous Stark Law Exceptions

November 21, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

As we previously reported, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently issued two proposed rules intended to reduce the regulatory burden associated with the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law). Although the rules’ main focus is on value-based arrangements, the proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also includes a number of provider-friendly changes and clarifications to the Stark Law. As discussed below, CMS is proposing several changes to key Stark Law requirements as well as modifications to existing Stark Law exceptions.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to AKS and Stark Law, Part 4: Modifications to Key Stark Law Terminology and a New Stark Law Exception

November 13, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Rachel Yount

This post is the fourth installment of our blog series on significant, proposed changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law) recently announced by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).  The proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers new and revised definitions on key Stark Law terms, some of which CMS has previously neglected to define or provide significant guidance.  In addition, CMS proposes a new Stark Law exception for limited remuneration to a physician, which offers health care entities more flexibility for unwritten, short-term compensation arrangements with physicians.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to AKS and Stark Law, Part 3: Personal Services and Management Contracts, Outcomes-Based Payments, and Warranties

October 23, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Theresa Carnegie, Rachel Yount

This post is the third installment of our blog series on recent proposed rules from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) that, if finalized, would implement major changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law). Below is an in-depth summary of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) proposed modifications to the safe harbors for personal services and management contracts, which includes a proposed new provision protecting outcomes-based payments. We also cover the OIG’s proposed modifications to the warranties safe harbor.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to AKS and Stark Law, Part 2: Cybersecurity Technology and Electronic Health Records

October 21, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Dianne Bourque, Theresa Carnegie, Rachel Yount

On October 17, 2019, the Department of Health & Human Services published two proposed rules that, if finalized, would implement significant changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law). This post is the latest installment in our blog series covering these proposed rules.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to AKS and Stark Law, Part 1: Value-Based Arrangements

October 15, 2019 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie, Rachel Yount

As we reported last week, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently issued two proposed rules (one by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and one by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)) that, if finalized, would implement sweeping changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the Stark Law). The proposed rules seek to reduce barriers to value-based contracting in several ways, including: (1) creating new safe harbors to the AKS; (2) adding new exceptions to the Stark Law; and (3) retooling existing AKS safe harbors, along with the Civil Monetary Penalties rules regarding beneficiary inducements. Below are key takeaways from both the OIG’s and the CMS’s proposed rules as they relate to the new value-based arrangements safe harbors and Stark Law exceptions.
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HHS Proposes Sweeping Changes to Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law

October 10, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Theresa Carnegie, Rachel Yount

On October 9, 2019, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced significant changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (known as the Stark Law) through proposed rules issued by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The proposed rules are part of HHS’s Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care, which aims to promote value-based care and ease regulatory burden on health care providers, particularly with respect to the AKS and the Stark Law.
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