The problem of physician self-referral under the Medicare and Medicaid antikickback statute: the Hanlester Network case and the safe harbor regulation
Article Abstract:
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services sued the Hanlester Network in 1989 for violating the Medicaid and Medicare antikickback statute. The Network had solicited physician investment in three clinical laboratories that allegedly paid physicians for specimens that were actually sent to SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories. In 1992, the Administrative Law Judge ruled that the joint venture violated the antikickback statute. The OIG also developed a guideline called the safe harbor regulation, which gave doctors advice on which joint ventures would not violate the law. The American Medical Association revised its policy on physician self-referral, which occurs when a physician refers a patient to a facility that the physician owns wholly or in part. Many states may also pass laws that restrict physician self-referral.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1992
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On federal regulation of methadone treatment
Article Abstract:
Legislators and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have exaggerated the dangers of methadone, a drug used medically to end withdrawal symptoms from heroin and other opiates. The DEA found a high mortality rate associated with methadone, prescriptions of which were restricted by the Narcotic Addict Treatment Act of 1974. However, the Institute of Medicine issued a 1995 report that disputes the number of direct deaths caused by methadone. The Institute of Medicine recommends that the DEA set standards for handling, dispensing, and storing opiates, but that the agency ceases regulation of methadone.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1995
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