The Anti-Kickback Statute: 2021 Review And Preparedness For 2022

This webinar will focus on cases and enforcement actions taken by the HHS OIG and its law enforcement partners in 2021.  We will also briefly review the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”), discuss safe harbors, particularly the new proposed safe harbor for coordinated care and associated value-based arrangements, and OIG Advisory Opinions that have been issued in 2021, as well as pertinent cases involving the AKS.

The AKS is currently the focus of law enforcement officials. The Statute provides that the offeror payment, as well as the solicitation or receipt, of “any remuneration” in exchange for referrals of any good, facility, service, or item for which payment may be made in whole or in part under Medicare/Medicaid is prohibited.

Recent cases and/or enforcement actions involving the AKS, violation of which has been held to be the basis of an action under the Federal False Claims Act, (“FCA”) raise serious concerns regarding compliance issues with the hospital, physician practices, and other healthcare entities.  Recoveries under the FCA are at an all-time high, and the percentage of actions involving healthcare organizations has been increasing at exponential rates.

Webinar Objectives

• Provide attendees with an understanding of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
• Provide a perspective of how the courts and the Inspector General’s (OIG) office view compliance with the AKS.
• Discuss recent enforcement actions taken by the OIG and its law enforcement partners.
• Show how the courts deal with violations of the AKS.

Webinar Agenda

• The Anti-Kickback Statute
• The Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors
• OIG Advisory Opinions
• Enforcement Actions are taken by OIG and its law enforcement partners.
• Pertinent Caselaw

Webinar Highlights

This program is designed for health care executives, physicians, and other health care providers and their managers who participate in and receive remuneration from Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs such as TriCare. Several recent cases bring home the realization that many activities that are common in other industries are a crime under federal healthcare fraud and abuse laws.

Hospital executives, as well as physicians and/or other health care providers, should be very concerned about the potential for the government to use the Anti-Kickback Statute as one of the prime methods for enforcing federal fraud and abuse laws. Equally concerning, along with Stark II (the federal physician anti-referral law), the Anti-Kickback Statute can be and is being used as the basis for an action brought under the Federal False Claims Act. In this webinar, you will learn about the elements of the Anti-Kickback Statute, along with the various exceptions and safe harbors that you can rely on for protection against enforcement under these laws. This is important because healthcare fraud and abuse if becoming the focus of these enforcement efforts.

Who Should Attend

• Hospital executives, particularly CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CNOs, and CMOs
• Physicians
• Physician practice managers
• Other healthcare provider executives.