Office of the Inspector General says no to laboratory EHR fee kickbacks

The OIG for the Department of Health and Human Services was recently asked to assess whether a business arrangement between a clinical laboratory, an electronic health record vendor (EHR) and referring physicians violates the federal anti-kickback statute. As of January 1, 2014 laboratories can no longer provide kickbacks with EHRS. But the question before the OIG was whether a laboratory can legally pay EHR fees that would normally be incurred by referring physicians. On April 8, 2014, the OIG posted Advisory Opinion 14-03 which should be of interest to any pathology lab receiving test orders and transmitting test results via electronic interfaces with clients. EHR and interface vendors should also be interested. Here, the OIG found that the payment arrangement for an interface involved “potentially problematic financial incentives” presenting “more than a minimal risk” of fraud and abuse under the Federal anti-kickback statute (AKS).  The AKS is a federal criminal statute that subjects both parties involved to potential hefty fines, imprisonment and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.