Physicians’ Participation in the Open Payments Program: As if the Anti-Kickback Statute Wasn’t Enough !

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By: David Hirshfeld

By now we are all too familiar with the commandment “Thou shaltneither pay nor receive, nor solicit the payment or receipt, of anything of value in exchange for referring an individual to a person for the furnishing of an item or service for which payment may be made by a Federal health care program.”  Many of us have restructured, redefined, contorted and construed our arrangements so that they fit neatly within a statutory Safe Harbor to the anti-kickback legislation.  Then, in the name of “Patient Protection,” comes the Open Payments Program (also known as the “Physician Payment Sunshine Act”).

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Appeals Court Strikes Down Individual Mandate in Reform Law

Via Modern Healthcare, Joe Carlson

In a 304-page opinion, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Friday struck down the individual insurance mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but allowed the rest of the sweeping law to stand.

In its decision, a divided three-judge panel of the federal appeals court ruled in favor of 26 states that had joined a lawsuit in Pensacola, Fla., which argued the reform law should be struck down because it relies on an unconstitutional expansion of federal power.

The ruling means that the Supreme Court will now have the classic split in the circuit courts that it often relies on when deciding whether to take on a case. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in June, and the losers in that case filed for permission last month to have their case heard by the Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20110812/NEWS/308119930#ixzz1VCtydEqc
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