The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), on September 5th, published a final rule implementing Phase III of Part II of the Stark Act (the “Stark III Regulations”). CMS, in addition to revising certain elements of the Stark Act, responded to commentary regarding the elements it had changed and the elements still under consideration for revision. Generally, the Stark III Regulations tend to tighten up restrictions rather than add additional opportunities.While many of the revisions to the Stark Act restrictions make sense given ongoing potentially abusive activities, the changes will not be viewed as physician-friendly.The Stark III Regulations are effective as of December 4, 2007.
With only a few exceptions, all financial relationships subject to the Stark Act prohibitions must be compliant with a Stark Act exception at that time. The Stark III Regulations refl ect actual changes made by CMS regarding the Stark Act and physician referral issues. The 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (the “MPFS”), 2 published by CMS on July 12th, presents additional concerns and considerations applicable to certain provisions of the Stark Act in the form of proposed regulations and requests for comments. These items may or may not ultimately be adopted into law.
This article sets forth an overview of the key revisions presented in the Stark III Regulations and the MPFS.Each of the key points contains a description of the revision and a brief discussion on the impact of this change on physicians and their practices.
