CMS has posted a new Stark advisory opinion

CMS has posted a new Stark advisory opinion on its website.

The opinion addresses the following question:

Your request pertains to a physician recruitment arrangement (the

“Arrangement”) that was originally made between the Hospital and [name redacted] (the “Physician”) and which was later amended to include [name redacted] (the “Medical Group”), the physician-owned medical group practice into which the Physician was recruited. Specifically, you seek a determination regarding whether the Hospital was required under the physician self-referral statute, section 1877 of the Social Security Act (the “Act”), to include an excess receipts provision in the Arrangement and, if not, whether the Hospital may now amend the income guarantee loan agreement portion of the Arrangement to delete the excess receipts provision.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianSelfReferral/Downloads/CMS-AO-2007-01.pdf