Physicians Beware–the OIG Issued a New Fraud Alert Regarding Medical Directorships

On June 9, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a fraud alert warning physicians of significant liability for entering into medical directorships that are non-compliant with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). Medical directorships must reflect fair market value for bona fide services that the physicians actually provide. The OIG warns that if one purpose of the arrangement is to compensate a physician for his or her past or future referrals of Federal health care program business such as Medicare or Medicaid patients then such arrangement could be deemed in violation of the AKS and therefore subject the parties to the arrangement to significant liabilities including but not limited to civil monetary penalties.

Robert S. Iwrey Esq., a founding partner of The Health Law Partners, P.C., devotes a substantial portion of his practice assisting physicians with employment matters including drafting and providing guidance on legally compliant medical directorship agreements. For more information regarding this blog, please contact Robert S. Iwrey, Esq. at (248) 996-8510 or (212) 734-0128 or riwrey@thehlp.com