Many business people involved in some aspect of the recovery business world (e.g. IOPs, PHPs, Detox) are not aware of the punishing laws that apply to their marketing arrangements. Simply paying someone a commission based sales compensation without fully appreciate the applicable laws is dangerous and costly.
Category Archives: Independent Diagnostic Treatment Facilities
Supreme Court upholds Obama health care law
Via @USAToday
The Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health care law today in a splintered, complex opinion that gives Obama a major election-year victory.
Basically. the justices said that the individual mandate — the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine — is constitutional as a tax.
Chief Justice John Roberts — a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush — provided the key vote to preserve the landmark health care law, which figures to be a major issue in Obama’s re-election bid against Republican opponent Mitt Romney.
The government had argued that Congress had the authority to pass the individual mandate as part of its power to regulate interstate commerce; the court disagreed with that analysis, but preserved the mandate because the fine amounts to a tax that is within Congress’ constitutional taxing powers.
The announcement will have a major impact on the nation’s health care system, the actions of both federal and state governments, and the course of the November presidential and congressional elections.
A key question for the high court: The law’s individual mandate, the requirement that nearly all Americans buy health insurance, or pay a penalty.
Critics call the requirement an unconstitutional overreach by Congress and the Obama administration; supporters say it is necessary to finance the health care plan, and well within the government’s powers under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
While the individual mandate remained 18 months away from implementation, many other provisions already have gone into effect, such as free wellness exams for seniors and allowing children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies. Some of those provisions are likely to be retained by some insurance companies.
Other impacts will sort themselves out, once the court rules:
— Health care millions of Americans will be affected – coverage for some, premiums for others. Doctors, hospitals, drug makers, insurers, and employers large and small all will feel the impact.
— States — some of which have moved ahead with the health care overhaul while others have held back — now have decisions to make. A deeply divided Congress could decide to re-enter the debate with legislation.
— The presidential race between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney is sure to feel the repercussions. Obama’s health care law has proven to be slightly more unpopular than popular among Americans.
Full Story Here: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/Supreme-Court-rules-on-Obama-health-care-plan-718037/1#.T-xqPhd5F9E
The Florida Healthcare Law Firm Announces National Expansion
(Delray Beach, FL) June 21st, 2012 – The Florida Healthcare Law Firm, one of Florida’s leading healthcare law firms, today announced a major increase in their legal practice capabilities with the official launch of the National Healthcare Law Firm, a d/b/a and new portal of the firm. The expansion to a national platform providing healthcare legal services to physicians and healthcare businesses is one that significantly increases resources for clients who lack qualified local healthcare counsel. While the Florida Healthcare Law Firm has for years assisted clients outside the state of Florida*, this new development further cements the firm’s commitment to providing ethical legal counsel in the healthcare industry.“We are very excited about it. The fact that we serve clients all over the country has been a small secret for a while but we realized there’s a huge demand and decided to just go for it,” said Jeffrey L. Cohen, Esq. Founder and President of Florida Healthcare Law Firm.
According to Cohen, “It’s just a strange area of the law. Nearly everything in healthcare business is regulated; leases, employment agreements, compensation. Things you wouldn’t think are regulated are strongly regulated. And there are large fines and criminal penalties for getting it wrong! Our clients understand that healthcare business of any kind has serious legal risks and that they need uniquely qualified help.”
To request a service list or for any other firm information, call Autumn Piccolo at 888-455-7702 or visit the firm’s website at www.nationalhealthcarelawfirm.com or www.floridahealthcarelawfirm.com
* * *
Acknowledged throughout the country for its service and excellence, Florida Healthcare Law Firm is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare legal services. Founded by Jeffrey L. Cohen, Esq and headquartered in South Florida, FHLF provides legal services to physicians and healthcare businesses with the right pricing responsiveness and ethics. From healthcare clinic regulation, home health agency representation and physician contracting to medical practice formation/representation and federal and state compliance matters, the Florida Healthcare Law Firm is committed to bringing knowledge and experience to a diverse group of clients.
Compliance Alert for Providers Operating as Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities
The Florida Medicaid program does not enroll or reimburse for the services performed by an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF). Medicaid policy allows physicians practicing in an IDTF to enroll as a physician group so that they may only bill Medicaid for the professional component when services are rendered at the IDTF. Florida Medicaid does not reimburse for the technical component or global fee for services performed by an IDTF. This is not a new policy and it applies to both physician-owned and non-physician-owned IDTFs. This notice is being provided to you in anticipation of Agency-conducted audits regarding this policy.
If your practice is performing diagnostic testing, the global fee (or technical component) is only properly reimbursed when your practices’ physicians are also the treating providers (for the patient’s condition that warranted the testing). Physician practices that do not include the treating provider should immediately stop billing Medicaid for the global fee and/or technical component for diagnostic testing. Also, providers may choose to voluntarily conduct a self-audit and repay any overpayments prior to an Agency-conducted audit. When the Agency conducts an audit, it is entitled to recover the costs of the audit and is required to assess sanctions for the non-compliance.
It is recommended that you review claims from January 1, 2011, to present and submit self-audit findings as well as a refund check to the Agency for any improper payments detected in the audit. A provider who conducts a self-audit, submits the results, and remits payment, may avoid sanctions for the voluntary disclosure and repayment of overpayments. Information about conducting self audits, as well as the contact information for your local area office, is available on the agency’s website.
Questions specific to the anticipated recoupment project may be directed to Kelly Bennett via email at Kelly.Bennett@ahca.myflorida.com. Please include the question in the email as opposed to a request for a return phone call.
Super Group Doctors Beware of Departure Provisions
Super groups are in vogue as physicians do their best to reduce costs and enhance revenues. A “super group” is essentially a collection of previously separate competitors who have joined a single legal entity in order to achieve certain advantages. Those advantages tend to be (1) reducing overhead expense associated with economies of scale. Buying insurance for a group of 100 doctors should be far less expensive per doctor than a group of three doctors; (2) gaining leverage in managed care contracting. 20 groups of five physicians each cannot contract with a payer with “one voice” due to the antitrust restrictions, but a single group of 100 doctors can; and (3) finding new revenue sources. Small groups and solo practices cannot afford revenue producing services like surgery centers, imaging services and such. When practices combine, they have a greater patient base, which makes the development of new revenue sources feasible.
Physicians join super groups with terrific promise and hope. They are clearly a good idea, especially if they have solid operations. That said, physicians who rush to form them rarely consider the risks associated with a physician departing the group. They need to!
When a doctor joins a super group, she stops billing through her old practice (the “P.A.”) and starts billing through a new group (the “LLC”). The LLC has a tax ID number and a Medicare group number. And the LLC enters into lots of managed care payer agreements. Simply put, the doctor puts all of her eggs in the LLC basket. So what’s the risk?
When physicians depart super groups, they have to confront difficult facts, like:
- It will take months to get a new Medicare provider number. If they haven’t billed through their “old entity” for a while, that number is gone. And getting a new number for the departing physician takes time, during which revenues associated with Medicare patients are lost (until the number is obtained);
- It takes even longer to get on insurance plans. If the LLC is contracted (they usually are), how long will it take to get the P.A. fired back up? It can take as long as six months (and sometimes even more)? That means the departed doctor is out of network with all the plans! This exposes her patients to higher costs and may affect referral patterns. This alone can be crippling to a physician who has left the super group.
- Leaving can also mean ending access to patient scheduling and electronic medical records. Many super groups do not ensure access to patient scheduling or billing to enable a departing physician to get back on their feet; and this can be devastating.
- Noncompetes can play a big role in how a departing physician gets back on her feet. Ideally she will know that being solo is not as good as being part of a larger practice. But what if the super group imposes a restriction on the departing physician that prevents her from being part of another group? This is common and often very harmful, since some physicians who depart super groups have no effective options but to join other groups.
Super groups exist to benefit physicians. It makes no sense that they would be used to harm them, which is precisely what can happen (and sometimes does happen) if physicians do not pay good attention to the “back end” as well as they do to the “front.” That means things like—
- Making sure that, wherever possible, the departing physician is afforded enough time to get back on her feet professionally. She will need time to get a new practice formed, to get a new Medicare provider number and to get back on insurance plans;
- Ensuring the departing physician has adequate access to medical and scheduling records;
- Carefully considering whether or not noncompetes make any sense. Some may say that it is important to protect the new practice (like the old one), but these are different sorts of practices. They are not built from the ground up. They are built because successful competitors who have been in business for years decided essentially to “loan” their practices to the super group in order to obtain certain unique advantages.
Super group arrangements continue to grow. Some of them even develop into fully integrated and sophisticated businesses. Physicians who join them have to consider all “angles,” not just how good it will be or can be when they join.
OIG Approves Healthcare Coupon Website
The economy has heated up the marketing activity of many healthcare businesses, including physicians. Marketing devices like Groupon have become commonplace, but raise some significant legal issues. So.one such business requested guidance from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services and got a nice response.
The requestor operates a website that includes coupons for healthcare items and services and also advertising on behalf of individuals and businesses in the healthcare industry. The healthcare professionals and business people would post coupons on the website, which would give discounts, including discounts on items and services that are covered by Medicare and other state or federal healthcare programs. The website business would have different levels of membership and would charge flat fees for each level of membership. Additionally, the requestor would sell advertising on the website.
The arrangement had certain limitations, including:
1. The providers would not advertise free services, only discounted services; and
2. The providers would be required to give the same discount to any third party payer or insurance carrier, not just to the patient.
The OIG approved the proposal and noted the following key things:
1. The requestor is not a healthcare provider;
2. Payments from providers and advertisers are a set fee, are consistent with fair market value and don’t depend on customers (patients) using coupons or buying services;
3. Advertising would only be received by customers that elected to receive it; and
4. The business structure is not likely to increase utilization.
In short, the OIG thought the requestor was serving only as a conduit of advertising and was not paying anyone to influence any patient’s choice of a provider or supplier.
10 Lesser Known Effects of Healthcare Reform Law
This is a great article published by CNN this morning.
View it in it’s entirety Here
(CNN) — On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court takes on a political, social, economic and medical hot potato: the health care reform law that was signed into law two years ago.
For six hours during each of the next three days, attorneys will argue and justices will consider legal questions about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and issues surrounding federal versus state powers.
Read a transcript of Monday’s Supreme Court arguments
Many of the law’s major aspects have been the topic of much discussion. But are you aware that deep within the sweeping law’s 2,700 pages are many lesser known changes that could affect your life in unexpected ways?
CNN Explains: Health care reform1. How many goodies your doctors get
Is your doctor prescribing you certain drugs because those are the best for your condition or because of a pharmaceutical company’s influence? Here’s one way you can find out.
The Physician Payment Sunshine Act under health care reform requires drug, device or medical supply companies to report annually certain payments or things of value that they’ve given physicians and teaching hospitals. This could be speaking fees, consulting fees, meals and travel. So, you can find out which and how much companies pay doctors or health care workers. The companies are obligated to report annually about physician ownership and their financial investments.
Continue Reading Here
CMS Clarifies Place of Service (POS) Coding Requirements
Billing Medicare for services requires the correct POS code on the claim form. Improper use of the POS code has been a problem, especially when services are provided in out-patient hospitals and surgery centers. The OIG has found many circumstances where such services were provided in those facilities were billed as though services were provided in the physician office. The POS code is intended to identify where the physician is physically present and has a face to face encounter with a Medicare patient when covered services are provided.
CMS has issues revised and clarified POS coding instructions. They give multiple examples, including one where a Medicare patient receives MRI services at a hospital. The hospital bills the technical component . The physician is to submit a claim showing the professional component POS as his/her office (code 22), since that is where the physician performed the covered service, not the MRI center at the hospital. The Instructions describe the proper use of POS modifiers and are invaluable in avoiding liability to Medicare.
Senate OKs Two-Month Freeze on Doc Pay
Wrapping up legislative business before the Christmas recess, the Senate on Saturday approved legislation that freezes Medicare payments to physicians until Feb. 29.
In a vote of 89-10, the Senate passed an amended version of the House payroll tax bill that the lower chamber approved earlier this week. The legislation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (PDF)—which extends a payroll tax holiday for two months—provides no payment update in Medicare reimbursement levels for the nation’s doctors in January and February 2012, which prevents a 27.4% cut that was scheduled to tax effect on Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, the bill also extends for two months a host of Medicare and health-related provisions that would otherwise have expired by year’s end. These measures include reimbursement raises for ambulance services, mental health reimbursements, the Qualifying Individual (QI) program, the outpatient “hold harmless” provision, and transitional medical assistance, which provides Medicaid benefits for low-income families who are transitioning from welfare to work.
In a statement, American Medical Association President Dr. Peter Carmel said waiting until the final week of the legislative session to address an issue Congress knew about all year is no way to conduct business for the country.
Read more: Senate OKs two-month freeze on doc pay – Healthcare business news and research | Modern Healthcare http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20111217/NEWS/312179947#ixzz1gzkQmEcy
?trk=tynt
Supervisory Requirements for IDTFs
We get questions all the time regarding the supervisory requirements for Independent Diagnostic Treatment Facilities (IDTF). Here are some tips in complying with one of the key elements in obtaining and maintaining status as an IDTF and as a Medicare provider.
An IDTF must have one or more supervising physicians who are responsible for the direct and ongoing oversight of the quality of the testing performed, the proper operation and calibration of equipment used to perform tests, and the qualifications of non-physician IDTF personnel who use the equipment. Not every supervising physician has to be responsible for all of these functions. One supervising physician could be responsible for operation and calibration of equipment, while other physicians are responsible for test supervision and the qualifications of non-physician personnel. Continue reading
Florida Healthcare Law Firm Blog 