Re: Stark Law

From:ItsMeCyndiCaron@aol.com

Dear Tom:

I should mention in your email message that you stated it is not a "criminal law".  Under the Stark law, which follows and enforces the Medicare guidelines for fraud and abuse, it certainly can and would be prosecuted if ever a Medicare investigation found a group guilty of violating as well as the possibility of being excluded from the Medicare Program.  Any entity that bills Medicare for services rendered and as such a laboratory under the HCFA guidelines would need to abide by such.

Keeping in mind, regarding other reasons for potential collusion, most insurance carriers and managed care organizations can (and would) exclude an entire entity from participating if they felt "price sharing" was a possibility.  That would certainly be another impact to the institution and those that shared the information.

Fair to say that TimR@cdc.gov  was indeed correct and should be "thanked" for alerting the person who inquired.  That is the purpose in this forum to share a wealth of information amongst each other.

Take care,
Cyndi Caron

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