Financial penalties are very real for giving and receiving gifts at your medical practice. Even something as innocent as sending goodies to a referral source over the holiday can violate Anti-Kickback laws and cost you BIG.
A settlement posted on the Office the Inspector General (OIG) site proves the risk is real. A large physician practice agreed to pay $50,000 for allegedly providing improper holiday treats to a referral source to say “Thank You.” Depending on the circumstances, the OIG can charge a $50,000 penalty for each improper act, and damages of up to three times the amount of the gift.
It can be difficult to determine what is and isn’t considered an appropriate gift. You must be able to identify when a gift graduates from being just a token to being considered inappropriate, or even worse – an inducement. The problem is the lines are fuzzy between each. That means your chances of getting it wrong go through the roof.
The good news is, that with a little help, you can learn how to identify what types of gifts are appropriate for your medical practice to give and receive (including from whom and when). This is where compliance healthcare attorney, Diana Trevley, JD, CCEP-I, can help. During this 60-minute online training, Diana will provide you the dos and don’ts of giving and accepting gifts in plain-English. She’ll also walk you thought how to turn away gifts that aren’t appropriate without harming patient, colleague or vendor relations.
Here are just a few of the strategies you’ll learn from this training that will help you avoid the legal and financial consequences of mistakenly accepting gifts:
- Master vendor reporting requirements, and how to check what they’re reporting about you
- Use the Sunshine Law to identify problematic vendor gift reporting, and get it changed
- Avoid allegations of violating anti-kickback laws and the associated penalties
- Detect gift red flags to better determine when to take action
- Stop your staff from innocently accepting gifts that can lead to costly enforcement actions
- Reject a well-intentioned gift more effectively and avoid damaging patient relationships
- Protect yourself from expectations of gift reciprocation when not permissible
- Implement a gift policy to protect your practice and retain patients
- Pin down what gifts you really can accept, and those that will get you into trouble
- And so much more…
Who should attend: This is a training that you and your entire staff will benefit from, just in time for the holiday season.
You can be offered an inappropriate gift at any time. Remember, you don’t have to intentionally break the rules to get into trouble. Even innocent mistakes can lead to lost patients, stressful legal actions and costly financial consequences.
By attending this expert-led training, you’ll be able to better distinguish between those gifts that are okay, and those that will get you into trouble. You’ll also receive strategies on how to more effectively reject a gift, if necessary, without damaging patient and business relationships. As the OIG ramps up its anti-kickback efforts, this training is essential. Don’t wait, sign up today.
Diana Trevley, JD, CCEP-I, CIPP/E is an attorney and consultant specializing in business law, compliance, and privacy. Her focus is on providing practical solutions for companies that meet business objectives and regulatory requirements while enhancing operational efficiencies.
Diana’s career includes acting as the outsourced CCO for Ethico, a whistleblower hotline company with a focus on healthcare clients; advising global organizations on compliance and data privacy best practices; working in-house as compliance and privacy counsel for publicly traded companies; and serving as the international representative to the U.S delegation to ISO TC 309, the global initiative to create international standards on corporate governance, compliance and whistleblowing.
I enjoyed the speaker and her presentation. There was enough information without being overwhelmed. It Allows for the attendee to pursue more information on their own. I was also grateful, there was a printable handout and Attendance Certificate.
Luz Capcha
Billing Manager, Salerno Medical Associates LLP
The Webinar and the speaker were good. The speaker attempted to inject humor, which I appreciated. Its hard to talk to an audience you can't see.
Brian Stewart
Director of Business Development, Dickson-Diveley Orthopaedics
