Connecticut Hospital Settles Self-Disclosed Stark Violations for $423K
Case: A major settlement in Connecticut in June was authored by Hartford Hospital after it made the mistake of leasing office space to a physician practice (and Medicare referral source) at below fair market value rents. Facing the prospect of trial for violating the Stark law as well as the Civil Monetary Penalties Law for subsequently billing services provided to Medicare beneficiaries as a result of those poison referrals, the hospital has agreed to fork over $423,017 to settle. Significance: Unfortunately, we do not know any of the details of the arrangement because the hospital self-disclosed the violation to the OIG. Along with a lower fine, shielding potentially embarrassing details is one of the advantages of self-disclosure and something you need to consider if your lab ever unearths a violation before the OIG does.
Case: A major settlement in Connecticut in June was authored by Hartford Hospital after it made the mistake of leasing office space to a physician practice (and Medicare referral source) at below fair market value rents. Facing the prospect of trial for violating the Stark law as well as the Civil Monetary Penalties Law for subsequently billing services provided to Medicare beneficiaries as a result of those poison referrals, the hospital has agreed to fork over $423,017 to settle.
Significance: Unfortunately, we do not know any of the details of the arrangement because the hospital self-disclosed the violation to the OIG. Along with a lower fine, shielding potentially embarrassing details is one of the advantages of self-disclosure and something you need to consider if your lab ever unearths a violation before the OIG does.
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