Before the passage of the bill, the state’s Stark law referral exception only applied if the items or services were being provided under the direct supervision of the referring healthcare provider. This requirement applied to orders, recommendations and most plans of care from a physician that were provided solely for patients of the group practice.
The new legislation removes the direct supervision requirement, which required the supervising physician to be present in the office while the referred services were being performed or provided. Now, the direct supervision requirement is replaced with the requirement that the service be subject to supervision if “such supervision complies with all applicable Medicare payment and coverage rules for services,” according to the report.
For example, the report said, many imaging services that would have previously required a referring physician to be physically present now can be performed under Medicare’s less stringent supervision requirement.
Certain payers may still require a higher level of supervision for some services, the report said.
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