The Anti-Kickback Statute: Year in Review

Course Description:

The AKS is currently the focus of law enforcement officials. The Statute provides that the offer or 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 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.

Why Should You Attend?

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 the 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

Learning Objective:

• 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.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• The Anti-Kickback Statute

• The Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors

• OIG Advisory Opinions

• Enforcement Actions taken by OIG and its law enforcement partners.

• Pertinent Caselaw

Who Will Benefit:

• Hospital executives, particularly CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CNOs, and CMOs,

• Physicians,

• Physician practice managers, and

• Other healthcare provider executives.

Instructor Profile:

William Mack Copeland, MS, JD, PhD, LFACHE, practices health care law in Harrison, Ohio at the firm of Copeland Law, LLC, where he is president and CEO. He is also president of Executive & Managerial Development Group, a consulting entity providing compliance and other fraud and abuse related services, on the board of QualityMD, and general counsel for the USAF MSC Association. A graduate of Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Bill is a frequent author and speaker on health law topics. Copeland is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, American, Ohio and Cincinnati Bar Associations and is a life fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. A former hospital CEO, he was awarded the American College of Health Care Executives Senior-Level Healthcare Executive Regent’s Award in 2007.