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On October 13, 2023, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 23-07 (Advisory Opinion), in which the OIG issued a favorable opinion regarding a physician group employer’s proposal to pay bonuses to its employed physicians based on net profits derived from certain procedures performed by the physicians at ambulatory surgery centers.Continue Reading OIG Issues Favorable Opinion Regarding Physician Group’s Proposal to Pay Bonuses to its Employed Physicians Based on Net Profits

On August 19, 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 22-16 (Advisory Opinion) in which it declined to impose sanctions for an arrangement under which the requestor provides gift cards to patients for completing an online learning program related to surgeries. The OIG concluded that although the arrangement would constitute prohibited remuneration under the federal anti-kickback statute (AKS) and the beneficiary inducement prohibitions of the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMP), it is unlikely to impact competition among providers or influence selection of a particular provider and therefore determined that the arrangement did not warrant the imposition of sanctions.Continue Reading Advisory Opinion 22-16: OIG Declines to Impose Sanctions for Arrangement Involving Provision of Gift Cards to Patients for Completing Learning Program

On April 27, 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 22-08 (Advisory Opinion) in which it declined to impose sanctions against a federally qualified health center (Requestor) for an arrangement involving the loaning of smartphones to patients to allow those patients to receive telehealth services from the Requestor. The OIG concluded that although the arrangement would constitute prohibited remuneration under the Federal anti-kickback statute (AKS) and the beneficiary inducement prohibitions of the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMP), the limited scope of the arrangement and the safeguards in place did not warrant the imposition of sanctions.
Continue Reading Advisory Opinion 22-08: OIG Declines to Impose Sanctions for Loaning of Smartphones for Receipt of Telehealth Services

On March 16, 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 22-05 (Advisory Opinion) in which it declined to impose sanctions against a medical device manufacturer (Requestor) that proposes to pay certain cost-sharing obligations of clinical trial participants, including Medicare beneficiaries. The OIG concluded that although the proposed arrangement (described below) would constitute prohibited remuneration under the Federal anti-kickback statute (AKS) and the beneficiary inducement prohibitions of the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMP), the low-risk nature of the proposed arrangement did not warrant the imposition of sanctions.
Continue Reading Advisory Opinion 22-05: OIG Declines to Impose Sanctions Against Device Manufacturer’s Medicare Cost-Sharing Subsidy in Clinical Trial

On February 14, 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued Advisory Opinion No. 22-03 (Advisory Opinion) regarding a home health agency’s (Requestor) proposal to pay nurse aide certification tuition costs on behalf of new employees hired to work as certified nurse aides (Proposed Arrangement). The OIG concluded that the Proposed Arrangement would not generate prohibited remuneration under the federal anti-kickback statute (AKS) or the beneficiary inducements civil monetary penalties (CMP).
Continue Reading OIG Issues Favorable Advisory Opinion Regarding Home Health Agency’s Proposal to Pay Tuition Costs for New Employees

In June 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notable interpretation of the Physician Self-Referral Law (aka the Stark Law) in Advisory Opinion No. CMS-AO-2021-01 (Advisory Opinion) regarding whether a physician practice can furnish designated health services (DHS) through a wholly-owned subsidiary and still qualify as a group practice (as defined under the Physician Self-Referral Law) for purposes of compliance with various Physician Self-Referral Law exceptions.
Continue Reading CMS Issues Advisory Opinion Clarifying Physician Self-Referral Law Group Practice Structure

On March 6, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a favorable advisory opinion that allows a nonprofit medical center (“Center”) to offer free, in-home follow-up care after a recent hospital admission for qualifying patients (the “In-Home Program”). In Advisory Opinion No. 19-03, the OIG concluded that although services furnished to qualifying patients under the In-Home Program would constitute remuneration to patients under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Civil Monetary Penalties law (CMP), the OIG would not impose sanctions on the Provider due to the low-risk nature of the In-Home Program.

The Provider furnishes a range of inpatient and outpatient hospital-based services, and currently offers in-home care to qualifying high-risk patients suffering from congestive heart failure (CHF) who (i) are currently admitted as inpatients of the Provider or (ii) were admitted within the previous 30 days and are being treated by the Provider’s outpatient cardiology department (“Current Arrangement”). Under the Current Arrangement, a clinical nurse leader must determine that the patient is a high risk for inpatient readmission using an industry-standard risk assessment tool, the patient must be willing to enroll in the program after consultation with the clinical nurse leader, the patient must seek follow-up care at the Provider’s CHF center, and the patient must live in the Provider’s service area.
Continue Reading OIG Approves of Free In-Home Follow-Up Care Program Targeting High Risk CHF and COPD Patients in Advisory Opinion

On January 24, 2019, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a favorable advisory opinion allowing a pharmaceutical manufacturer (“Manufacturer”) to temporarily loan limited-functionality smartphones to financially needy patients who lack the required technology to receive adherence data from a sensor embedded in a prescribed antipsychotic medication (“the Arrangement”). The OIG concluded that the Arrangement did not constitute grounds for penalties under the Civil Monetary Penalties law (“CMP”) and that although the Arrangement could potentially cause remuneration under the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”), the OIG would not impose sanctions on the Manufacturer as related to the Arrangement based on the low-risk nature of the Arrangement.
Continue Reading OIG Advisory Opinion No. 19-02 Allows Pharmaceutical Manufacturer to Temporarily Loan Smartphones to Financially Needy Patients to Receive Data from a Digestible Medication Sensor

On January 14, 2019, the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published the favorable Advisory Opinion 19-01 allowing a charitable pediatric clinic (“Clinic”) to routinely waive cost-sharing amounts for patients in financial need (“Arrangement”). OIG noted that the Arrangement did not meet the regulatory exception for permitted waivers of cost sharing amounts under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMP), but ultimately decided not to impose administrative sanctions in connection with the Arrangement.
Continue Reading OIG Advisory Opinion Allows Charitable Pediatric Clinic to Provide Routine Cost-Sharing Waivers

On November 6, 2018, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services published a favorable Advisory Opinion regarding a proposed arrangement comprised of substantial donations that were earmarked for biomedical research purposes, made by a charitable trust (“Trust”) to a public-private medical research institute (“Research Institute”). The Research Institute had been formed by a health care system (“Health Care System”) and a public university (“University”). In addition, one of the Trustees planned to make a separate, individual donation to the Research Institute, through the University’s foundation, under substantially identical terms.
Continue Reading OIG Issues Favorable Advisory Opinion for Trust Donations to Public-Private Research Institute Affiliated with a Health System Having Ongoing Business Relationships with Trustee-Owned Long-Term Care Facilities