In the past few months, federal prosecutors in California have brought multiple indictments under the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) charging the owners of substance abuse treatment facilities and their...more
Kathryn Isted In Harbor Healthcare System, L.P. v. United States, 5 F.4th 593 (5th Cir. 2021), the court of appeals ruled that the district court abused its discretion in refusing to exercise its equitable jurisdiction over a...more
Most health care providers have at least a basic understanding of the Anti-Kickback Statute. This federal law prohibits providers from offering, paying, soliciting, or accepting any form of “remuneration” for patient...more
What appears to be the United States’ first conviction under the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”) occurred last month when the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky accepted the...more
A group of New Jersey lawmakers recently introduced the Patient Protection Act (A5369, S3816), which would make it more difficult for doctors to transfer or refer patients to out-of-state providers or facilities....more
Ambulatory surgery center (ASC) development and ownership has made a comeback after a number of years of stagnation due to an oversupply of centers and poor income growth. However, with significant changes in payment...more
With the start of the 2019 Florida Legislative Session, several proposed bills could have significant impact on the healthcare landscape in the state. The following are brief highlights of some of the bills that have been...more
Effective October 24, 2018, Congress enacted the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (EKRA) as part of the “Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities...more
What the New Law Does and How Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities Are Impacted - Senate Bill 1228, also known as the Substance Use Disorder Patient Protection Act, was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and...more
A federal court recently dealt a victory to a health care provider over whistleblower allegations that free parking and valet service at a medical office building violated the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute....more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that, in fiscal year 2016 ending September 30, it obtained more than $4.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims. More than half of this...more
In a recent case Hebrew Homes Health Network, Inc. and its former president and executive Director agreed to pay $17 million to settle allegations that Hebrew Homes violated the federal anti-kickback statute. According to the...more
Late last month, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated portions of a former executive’s False Claims Act (“FCA”) whistleblower action against Health Management Associates Inc. (“HMA”),...more