Verma hints at coming Stark Law regulatory changes

Mar 06, 2019 - 03:12 PM
CMS_update

In remarks this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma hinted at some of the coming changes to the agency’s Stark Law regulations. “Some of the changes include clarifying the regulatory definitions of volume or value, commercial reasonableness and fair market value; addressing issues such as lack of signature, incorrect dates or other areas of technical noncompliance; and updating the regulation to address a world in which there are cybersecurity and electronic health records requirements,” Verma said at a Federation of American Hospitals conference. “This will represent the most significant changes to the Stark law since its inception. It is our hope that these changes will help spur better care coordination and help support our work to remove barriers to innovation while continuing to provide appropriate safeguards for our programs.” Responding last year to a CMS request for information on reducing the Stark Law’s regulatory burdens, AHA urged the agency to create or adapt compensation exceptions to the law to enable hospitals and physicians to coordinate care and improve patient outcomes. 

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