Healthcare policy makers might reconsider the broadness of in-office ancillary service exemption to the Stark law, according to researchers James Reschovsky, Alwyn Cassil and Hoangmai H. Pham in a study on physician ownership of medical equipment.
The recommendation is based on growing evidence that physician self-referral contributes to unnecessary and costly care, according to the report. Of the 2,750 physician respondents in community-based, physician-owned practices, 25.2 percent reported that their practice owned or leased equipment for laboratory services.
Overall, almost one in seven physicians reported that their practice owned or leased three or more types of equipment. Surgeons were most likely to own equipment for advanced imaging, and equipment ownership was more likely in larger practices.
CMS has acted in recent years to make physician ownership and use of some types of advanced imaging equipment less attractive by cutting Medicare reimbursements, the researchers said.
Read the study on physician equipment ownership.
Read more on the Stark Law:
-South Carolina's Tuomey Hospital Seeks to Stop Retrial of Alleged False Claims Violations
-20 Largest False Claims Cases of 2010
-Physicians Capital Offers Solution to ASC Recruitment Challenge: Providing Cash to Prospective Physician Owners
The recommendation is based on growing evidence that physician self-referral contributes to unnecessary and costly care, according to the report. Of the 2,750 physician respondents in community-based, physician-owned practices, 25.2 percent reported that their practice owned or leased equipment for laboratory services.
Overall, almost one in seven physicians reported that their practice owned or leased three or more types of equipment. Surgeons were most likely to own equipment for advanced imaging, and equipment ownership was more likely in larger practices.
CMS has acted in recent years to make physician ownership and use of some types of advanced imaging equipment less attractive by cutting Medicare reimbursements, the researchers said.
Read the study on physician equipment ownership.
Read more on the Stark Law:
-South Carolina's Tuomey Hospital Seeks to Stop Retrial of Alleged False Claims Violations
-20 Largest False Claims Cases of 2010
-Physicians Capital Offers Solution to ASC Recruitment Challenge: Providing Cash to Prospective Physician Owners