Many health care practices provide in-office clinical services to which they routinely refer their patients. For example, some practices own, operate, and refer patients to in-office clinical laboratories. Such in-office laboratories are convenient for patients and physicians alike. Patients enjoy the convenience of a one-stop shop for visiting with their physician and getting their lab work done. Physicians are able to provide a better and less interrupted service to their clients and receive laboratory results in a timely manner. However, referring patients to in-office services with which a physician has a financial relationship is not permissible, unless a health care practice qualifies as a “group practice” under the Stark Law and satisfies certain other statutory requirements.
Concerns over the ethical and economic impact of physician self referrals date back to the 1980s. In 1980, Dr. Arnold Relman’s publication in the New England Journal of Medicine sparked a national debate over the ethical risks inherent in physician self-referral.1
This national debate forced Congress to mandate certain studies and promulgate a series of laws relating to the role of physicians in the health care business. In a study mandated by Congress in 1989, the Health and Human Services Inspector General concluded that if a physician has a financial relationship with an entity, the physician tends to refer more patients to that entity. This study documented that physicians who have a financial relationship with a clinical laboratory refer 45% more of their Medicare patients to that clinical laboratory as compared with physicians who do not have a financial relationship with a clinical laboratory. Following this study, Congress promulgated a series of laws to curb the abuses that may occur in the health care business. One such law is known as the Physician Self-referral Law (a.k.a. the Stark Law).2
The Stark Law is primarily set forth in section 1877 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (OBRA 1989). This law prohibits physicians from referring Medicare patients to an entity for designated health services (DHS), if the physician or the physician’s immediate family has a financial relationship with the entity. DHS includes clinical lab services; physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services; radiology and other imaging services; radiation therapy services and supplies; durable medical equipment and supplies; prosthetics, orthotics, and prosthetic devices and supplies; home health services; outpatient prescription drugs; inpatient hospital services; outpatient hospital services; and parental and enteral nutrients, associated equipment, and supplies.3
In a series of regulatory publications over almost two decades, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, formerly HCFA) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have interpreted the Stark Law. As a result, today there exist a number of complex regulatory documents which address different aspects of this law. These regulatory documents may be found on the Department of Human Health Services’ (DHHS) website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianSelfReferral.
Even though self referral to DHS is prohibited, the Stark Law provides certain exceptions under which such referrals may be performed.
To qualify for these exceptions, physicians must adhere to a number of complex legal and business structure requirements. One such exception is the “in-office ancillary services.” 4 Upon meeting the requirements set forth in this exception, a physician can refer patients for DHS provided that:
Although the “in-office ancillary services” exception provides the basis of a myriad of rules and regulations with which referring physicians must comply, this article focuses on the first element of this exception—providing that a physician must be a “member” of a “group practice.” Physician practices must ensure that they comply with this first element (in addition to the other requirements) as intended by Congress and defined by DHHS.
Definitions
Member
The regulations define a “member” of a group practice to include any physician who owns, or is employed by, the group practice. Although non-physicians, such as nurses and physicians assistants, may be group practice “members,” their membership has no practical effect for purposes of the three group practice tests, or the profits and productivity bonuses provisions described in more detail below. 7
Group practices
The Stark Law imposes strict conditions on and narrowly defines a “group practice.” In fact, the current laws and regulations govern formation, management, distribution of income and expenses, sharing of profits, and distribution of bonuses related to a qualified group practice. Although some physicians and trade associations have objected to these regulations as micromanaging physician businesses, today, physicians may violate the law if their group practices fail to comply with these regulations and they self refer patients for DHS.
Formation
Congress intended that a qualified group practice consist of physician members whose practices are fully integrated, medically and economically. Thus, the regulations define a group practice as a single legal entity that is a bona fide (i.e., true) group practice of two or more physicians. A single legal entity may be organized as a partnership, professional corporation, foundation, not-for-profit corporation, faculty practice plan, or similar association. For example, one non-physician entity may form a practice group as long as it organizes a single legal entity which employs at least two physicians. It must be noted that even though formation of group practices is allowed by non-physician entities, the regulations prohibit formation of a group practice by other group practices.8
Management
The physician self-referral law also governs the way a group practice is managed by requiring that each group practice comport to the following tests:
“Full range of services” test
This test provides that each physician who is a member of the group practice must furnish substantially the full range of patient care services that the physician routinely furnishes, including medical care, consultation, diagnosis, or treatment, through the joint use of shared office space, facilities, equipment, and personnel.9 This test ensures that physicians in a group practice truly engage in the practice of medicine and identifies situations where a physician has joined a group in name only. This test also ensures that physicians are practicing as part of the group and not using the group to profit from referrals for DHS.
Patient care services
The regulations have defined the phrase “patient care services” as “any physician tasks that address the medical needs of patients that benefit the practice.” This may “include, for example, time spent training group staff members, arranging for equipment, or performing administrative or management tasks, as long as these activities befit the operation of the group practice.” 10
However, activities such as teaching, overseeing residents, or conducting medical research, are not considered “patient care services.” If a physician in a group practice performs only these non-patient care services activities, the physician will not be considered a member of the group practice. Such a non-member physician may not be considered when determining whether a physician business fits within the group practice definition.
Additionally, different profit distribution schemes must be used for the non-member physicians. For example, to qualify as a group practice, a solely owned Professional Corporation (PC) whose owner physician is considered a non-member must employ at least two other physician members who qualify under the full range of services test. In addition, the non-member sole physician owner would not be eligible for sharing in overall profits or productivity bonuses as prescribed under the “group practice” guidelines.
“Substantially all” test
This test provides that substantially all of the patient care services of the referring physicians who are members of the group practice must be furnished through the group and billed under a billing number assigned to the group.11 This test is designed to ensure that member physicians are economically bound to the group for services other than DHS referrals and are not just members of the group for purposes of profiting from DHS referrals.
“Substantially all” is defined to mean at least 75% of the physician members’ “patient care services” in aggregate. The regulations recommend measuring the “patient care services” by the total patient care time, concluding that the total patient care time is the most straightforward way of measuring “patient care services.” The total patient care time is the actual time spent performing patient care services, whether performed inside or outside of the group practice. For example, consider a two-member physician group in which one member performs 100% of his patient care services in the group practice, but the second member renders only 65% of her patient care services through the group practice. In such a scenario, about 82% [(100% + 65%)/2 = 82.5%)] of the physician members’ patient care services are rendered through this group practice, therefore satisfying the “substantially all” test.
Because the proposed total patient care time scheme may prove burdensome for some practices, group practices are allowed to adopt other alternative means of satisfying the “substantially all” test. However, the alternative measures used by group practices must be (1) reasonable; (2) fixed in advance of the performance of the services being measured (e.g., no ex post facto methods); (3) uniformly applied over time; and (4) verifiable.
“75% physician-patient encounters” test
This test provides that physician members of a group practice must personally conduct 75% of the group practice’s patient encounters (measured per capita). An “encounter” is defined as any appointment during which a group practice patient is actually examined or treated by a physician. This test is designed to ensure that the group practice is established legitimately as a medical practice and not primarily for benefiting form the provision of ancillary services.12
For example, if a group practice examines or treats 100 patients, only 25 patient encounters may be performed by non-member providers. Thus, in a group practice that encounters 100 patients, if the group practice delegates 26 of the patient encounters to non-member providers (e.g., contract physicians, nurses, or physician assistants), the group practice fails to qualify as a group practice under the “75% physician-patient encounters” test.
Distribution of income and expenses
The Stark Law requires that “the overhead expenses of and the income from the group practice are distributed in accordance with methods previously determined.” In general this provision of the statute may be interpreted to mean that overhead expenses and income be distributed according to methods that are determined prior to the receipt of payment for services (i.e., services giving rise to the overhead expenses or producing the income).13
For instance, if a physician bills a patient for $100, the group practice can determine a method for distributing this income before payment is received from the patient. Also, if the payment for this service is to be applied to an expense borne from providing this service, the group practice must also establish methods for determining distribution of such expense prior to receipt of the payment. Consequently, group practices can frequently adjust their compensation methodologies as long as they adhere to the requirements of this provision and remain subject to the restrictions on the distribution of DHS revenues as described in more detail below.
The Secretary of DHHS added an additional requirement to this provision of the Stark Law. This newly added provision further requires that a group practice be a “unified business” before distributing its overhead expenses and income.
“Unified business” test
The “unified business” test requires that a group practice possess (1) a centralized decision-making body, representative of the practice, that maintains effective control over the group’s assets and liabilities (including budgets, compensation, and salaries); and (2) consolidated billing, accounting, and financial reporting. This test is designed to ensure that group practices are integrated businesses and precludes group practices which are not bona fide group practices and only operate to benefit from lucrative DHS referrals.14
It is important to note that while the “unified business” test restricts integration of a group practice, it does not dictate specific compensation methods. As such, group practices may adopt different compensation schemes, such as cost center or location-based accounting, as long as the physician member compensation is not based on volume or value of Medicare referrals.
Profit sharing and productivity bonuses
The profit sharing and productivity bonus restrictions set forth yet another layer of requirements which health care providers must comply with to qualify as a group practice. For example, to self refer patients to an in-office clinical laboratory, a physician group must ensure that it meets the required group practice methodologies for distributing profits and allocating bonuses to the physicians in the practice. 15
According to the Stark Law, a physician who is a member of a group practice may not be compensated directly or indirectly based on volume or value of DHS referrals. However, physicians in group practices may receive profit shares or productivity bonuses based on services performed personally (and services incident to the physician’s personally performed services) as long as the shares or bonuses are not directly based on referred services. Thus, revenues generated by DHS should be distributed based on methods that indirectly take into account DHS referrals.
The regulations set forth certain examples of indirect methodologies according to which revenues may be distributed to group practice members and physicians.
Overall profit sharing methodologies
Before exploring the different sample methods for distributing overall profit shares, it is important to determine the regulatory definitions of “share of overall profits.” “Share of overall profits” may mean a share of the entire profits derived from DHS of the entire group practice. “Share of overall profits” may also mean the entire profits derived from DHS of any component of the group practice that consists of at least five physicians.16 Following are three sample methods for distributing overall profits derived from DHS according to the regulations:
Productivity bonus distribution method
The regulations have also provided sample methods for distributing productivity bonuses.17 Three such examples are as follows:
Conclusion
Definitions of “member” and “group practice” present only a part of the requirements that health care businesses must fulfill to comply with the “in-office ancillary services” exception of the Stark Law. Meeting other requirements presented within this exception, other provisions of this statute, and other laws may be required to fully comply with the existing laws that govern physician self referrals.
Although these complex regulatory laws are regarded as barriers in the path of the practice of medicine, they were designed with the intention of preventing fraud in the health care business. One can only hope that in the future Congress finds a way to simplify these complex laws to reduce the current burden that they impose on health care businesses.
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