OIG Follows the Stark Law COVID-19 Waivers for Anti-Kickback Statute

On April 3, 2020, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a policy statement announcing that the OIG will exercise its enforcement discretion not to impose administrative sanctions under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) for remuneration related to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). OIG’s announcement follows the recent blanket waivers issued by the HHS with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to protect certain specified financial relationships and referrals otherwise sanctioned by the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law), as long as they pertain to at least one COVID-19 purpose. The blanket waivers were discussed in an April 3, 2020, client alert.

In releasing the policy statement, OIG stated that all conditions and definitions that apply to the blanket waivers would need to be satisfied for a provider to receive this enforcement discretion. The conditions include: (i) the providers are acting in good faith to provide care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) the government does not determine that the financial relationship creates fraud and abuse concerns, and (iii) providers seeking protection under this policy statement maintain sufficient documentation.

Source: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/oig-follows-the-stark-law-covid-19-85976