Physician Recruitment: Ensuring Stark Compliance

Description

Physician recruitment is an ongoing challenge for providers and involves a number of potential legal pitfalls. Improper handling of physician recruitment has resulted in criminal prosecutions of hospital management teams, exorbitant civil settlements and exclusion from federal healthcare programs.

Counsel for hospitals and medical practices can minimize liability exposure and penalties for improper recruitment by crafting, implementing and evaluating physician recruitment deals to comply with the Stark self-referral rule and the Anti-Kickback statute.

Listen as our panel of healthcare attorneys discusses current trends and challenges in physician recruitment, explains how the Stark Phase III regulations and other federal laws impact physician recruitment, and offers best practices to craft effective recruitment agreements and minimize legal risk with physician hires.

Outline

1. Physician recruitment — current trends and challenges
2. Regulatory constraints on physician recruitment
   A. Stark Phase III changes
   B. Anti-Kickback statute
3. Crafting effective recruitment policies and agreements
   A. Adopt formalized physician recruitment policy and process
   B. Utilize signed, written agreement
   C. Remuneration not based on volume or value of referrals
   D. Recruited doctor can establish privileges at other hospitals
   E. Recruited doctor can refer patients to other hospitals
   F. Physician or practice may not impose additional restrictions on recruited doctor
4. Minimizing risks in physician recruitment
   A. Implement compliance program
   B. Evaluate current physician recruitment deals
   C. Overview of Advisory Opinion 2007-01
   D. Common issues and open issues in physician recruitment

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• What are the regulatory challenges facing healthcare providers in recruiting physicians?
• How can recruitment agreements be crafted to avoid violating federal and state laws and regulations?
• What lessons can be learned from CMS's October 2007 Advisory Opinion and court decisions on hospital recruitment efforts?
• What are the best practices for facilitating successful physician recruitment to minimize legal risks involved?

Webinar/Teleconference

Strafford webinars/teleconferences offer several options for participation: online viewing of speaker-controlled PowerPoint presentations with audio via computer speakers or via phone; or audio only via telephone (download speaker handouts prior to the program).  Please note that our webinars do not feature videos of the presenters.

CLE Credit

Strafford's live seminars qualify for CLE in every state that accredits webinars. They offer you a high quality, cost effective, and convenient CLE option, with no lost travel time or expenses.

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