CMS has finalized several Stark regulation revisions that have been proposed in different rules over the last year, as part of the fiscal year (FY) 2009 inpatient hospital prospective payment system (IPPS) update. The final rule is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on August 19, 2008.
Physician-owned hospitals. CMS is expanding the definition of physician-owned hospital to include hospitals in which an immediate family member of a physician has an ownership or investment interest. Physician-owned hospitals that currently have no referring physicians on staff, however, will be exempt from the requirement to disclose to patients that it is physician-owned.
CMS also has clarified the regulations to state that physician-owned hospitals must furnish a list of owners and investors who are physicians or family members at the time a patient requests it. A new rule mandates that a physician-owned hospital to require all physicians who are members of the hospital's medical staff to agree, as a condition of continued medical staff membership or admitting privileges, to disclose in writing at the time they refer patients to the hospital any ownership or investment interest in the hospital held by themselves or by an immediate family member. In addition, CMS may terminate a hospital’s Medicare provider agreement if it fails to comply with physician ownership requirements.
Disclosure of financial relationships. CMS plans to send an information collection instrument called a “Disclosure of Financial Relationships Report” (DFRR) to 500 hospitals to help it (1) identify physician arrangements that potentially may not be in compliance with the physician self-referral laws and regulations; and (2) identify practices that may help it in future rulemaking regarding physician self-referral. CMS has “not engaged in a comprehensive reporting initiative to examine financial relationships between hospitals and physicians,” since 1991, when it implemented these rules.
CCH Chicago Bureau, Aug. 8, 2008.
Visit our News Library to read more news stories.
