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CHA has submitted the attached comment letter in response to the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) recent request for information (RFI) seeking public input on safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). The RFI also seeks comments on exceptions to the beneficiary inducements civil monetary penalty definition of “remuneration,” as related to care coordination.
In the letter, CHA outlines the need for changes to federal fraud and abuse laws to reduce regulatory barriers to care coordination. CHA also urges the OIG to add regulatory safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute and beneficiary inducements civil monetary penalty to foster arrangements that would promote care coordination and advance the delivery of value-based care, while protecting against harms caused by fraud and abuse. Specifically, CHA supports the creation of new Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbors for clinical integration/value-based payment arrangements, sharing of cybersecurity items and services, and patient assistance.
In addition, CHA supports returning the Stark Law to its original intent of regulating self-referral to physician-owned entities by removing its compensation provisions. This would permit compensation arrangements to be regulated by the Anti-Kickback Statute, which is better suited to combatting payment for referrals.
Comments are due to the OIG by 2 p.m. (PT) on Oct. 26. Members are encouraged to use the draft letter as a template for their comments. Comments can be submitted online with file code “OIG-0803-N” referenced in the subject line.
