The federal Ethics in Patient Referrals Act of 1989, commonly known as the “Stark Law”, prohibits, subject to certain exceptions, physician referrals of Medicare and, as applicable under state law, Medicaid patients to an entity providing certain “designated health services” if the physician or an immediate family member has any financial relationship with the entity. The Stark Law also prohibits the entity receiving the referral from billing any good or service furnished pursuant to an unlawful referral. Various states have corollary laws to the Stark Law, including laws that require physicians to disclose any financial interest they may have with a healthcare provider to their patients when referring patients to that provider. Both the scope and exceptions for such laws vary from state to state. The federal False Claims Act prohibits persons from knowingly filing, or causing to be filed, a false claim to, or the knowing use of false statements to obtain payment from the federal government. The False Claims Act defines “knowingly” to include actual knowledge, acting in deliberate ignorance of the truth or falsity of information, or acting in deliberate disregard of the truth or falsity of information. False Claims Act liability includes liability for reverse false claims for avoiding or decreasing an obligation to pay or transmit money to the government. This includes False Claims Act liability for failing to report and return overpayments within 60 days of the date on which the overpayment is “identified”. Penalties under the False Claims Act can include exclusion from the Medicare program. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. Suits filed under the False Claims Act, known as qui tam actions, can be brought by any individual on behalf of the government and such individuals, commonly known as “whistleblowers”, may share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. The frequency of filing qui tam actions has increased significantly in recent years, causing greater numbers of medical device, pharmaceutical, and healthcare companies to have to defend a False Claims Act action. When an entity is determined to have violated the federal False Claims Act, it may be required to pay up to three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus civil penalties for each separate false claim. Various states have also enacted laws modeled after the federal False Claims Act.
HIPAA, and its implementing regulations, also created additional federal criminal statutes that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, regardless of the payer (e.g., public or private) and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick or device a material fact or making any materially false statements in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items, or services relating to healthcare matters. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
From time to time, the Company has been and is involved in various governmental audits, investigations, and reviews related to its operations. Reviews and investigations can lead to government actions, resulting in the assessment of damages, civil or criminal fines or penalties, or other sanctions, including restrictions or changes in the way we conduct business, loss of licensure, or exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid, or other government programs. Additionally, as a result of these investigations, healthcare providers and entities may face litigation or have to agree to settlements that can include monetary penalties and onerous compliance and reporting requirements as part of a consent decree or corporate integrity agreement, or Corporate Integrity Agreement (“CIA”). If we fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and rules, the Company’s financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Furthermore, becoming subject to these governmental investigations, audits, and reviews may result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention from the business as we cooperate with the government authorities, regardless of whether the particular investigation, audit, or review leads to the identification of underlying issues.
We are unable to predict whether we could be subject to actions under any of these laws, or the impact of such actions. If we are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or other applicable state and federal fraud and abuse laws, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid, and other government healthcare reimbursement programs, and the curtailment or restructuring of operations.
Healthcare Fraud and Abuse
Our operations may be subject to federal and state healthcare laws and regulations including fraud and abuse laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws, data privacy and security laws and transparency laws related to payments and/or other transfers of value made to physicians and other healthcare professionals and teaching hospitals.
The federal Anti-Kickback Law prohibits unlawful inducements for the referral of business reimbursable under federally-funded healthcare programs, such as remuneration provided to physicians to induce them to use certain tissue products or medical devices reimbursable by Medicare or Medicaid. The federal Anti-Kickback Law is subject to evolving interpretations. For example, the