Company Model Scrutiny For Physicians After Daitch Case

fhlf daitch case

fhlf daitch caseBy: Jeff Cohen

A 2018 Department of Justice civil settlement involving a Florida interventional pain physician was a cliff hanger when it surfaced, especially vis a vis the issue of the so-called Company Model, where anesthesiologists and referring physicians jointly owned an anesthesia provider.  The Daitch settlement involved interventional pain specialists who settled the case for $2.8 Million.  There, the government claimed that a mass of urine drug tests weren’t reasonable or medically necessary.  But the issue buried in the settlement call the issue of intertwined medical businesses and the Company Model into question.

The so-called Company Model involves the formation of a company that provides anesthesia services.  It’s jointly owned by anesthesiologists and referring physicians.  Theoretically, on a Monday, the anesthesiologists own the anesthesia practice and bill for all anesthesia services performed at a GI lab or ASC.  On a Tuesday, however, the new company (jointly owned by the same anesthesiologists and the referring physicians) steps in and starts billing for the anesthesia services, thus indirectly sharing a part of the profits with the physicians who are generating the anesthesia referrals.

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