Alert: Your patient incentives MUST pass federal rules – or you’ll pay up to $100,000 – and even go to prison for 10 years.
HHS made millions in revenue for prosecuting fraud in practices just like yours that innocently offer samples, waivers, referrals, and other inducements. Offer patients an enticement like a free preventive medicine service, flu shot, or a parking voucher the WRONG way and your good deed will turn into a devastating financial and legal nightmare.
The good news is there are Safe Harbor laws that can protect you, but you MUST meet ALL the requirements. The problem is multiple regulations and legalese make it tricky for you to keep your practice out of hot water.
That’s where healthcare attorney, Ritu Kaur Cooper, Esq., can help. During her 60-minute online training session, Ritu will show you what and how you can offer patient assistance and avoid costly penalties and sentences. You’ll walk away from this online training with the EXACT steps you need to take to safeguard your incentives from federal regulations. Patient incentive safe harbors.Patient incentive safe harbors.
Here are just a few of the step-by-step patient incentive tactics you’ll learn by attending this expert-led online training:
- Prevent Beneficiary Inducement Prohibition fines using the Safe Harbor law
- Avoid penalties with plain English explanations of the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMPL)
- Sidestep investigations, stop relying on your good “intent”
- Implement activities that meet “patient assistance” requirements
- Easy step that makes free screenings a benefit to patients and not improper inducements
- Stop fraud by knowing when it’s ok to waive copays and how to document it
- Identify the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) Safe Harbors that apply to your practice
- Safely offer more valuable items and services, properly define “nominal value”
- Prevent illegal “remunerations,” safely provide free or discounted services
- Generate loyalty with compliant choices, rule out gifts you should never offer to patients
- Legally help hardship patients with must-have “financial need” documentation
- Pinpoint when screenings, counseling, and vaccines qualify for the “preventive care” exception
- Exact way to approve violation-free new marketing programs or ideas
- Bonus: Proven audit-preventing tool verifies your practice has the right policies and procedures
- And much, much more!
Free dinners, goodie bags, i-watches and more can be great rewards that encourage your patients to get screened, lose weight and receive education. But you MUST make sure your goodwill doesn’t bite you with massive fines. By attending this session, you’ll be able to confidently continue to offer free items without incurring massive fines.
There are general rules that make your patient incentives penalty-free. In this session, you’ll get proven case studies and guidelines so you know the exact steps to implement to protect your practice from financial and legal ruin. You really can’t afford not to sign up for this session now.
Your practice is counting on you to make your patient incentives violation-free. Register today!
Ritu Kaur Cooper is a shareholder in the Washington DC office of Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, PC. Hall Render is the largest health care-focused law firm in the country. Ritu is the co-chair of the firm’s Compliance Service Line. Ritu’s practice consists of representing health care providers such as hospitals and health systems in litigation, regulatory and compliance matters. Her particular area of focus is on fraud and abuse, compliance, internal and government investigations, as well as voluntary disclosures to the OIG Self Disclosure Protocol or the CMS Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol. Ritu also served as the Interim Compliance Officer for Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc. and the Interim Division I Deputy Compliance Officer for Prime Healthcare Services, Inc.
Ritu advises clients on whether arrangements are compliant with the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statue, and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. She regularly works with the legal and compliance departments to assist clients with the development of effective compliance programs consistent with the OIG guidance. She drafts compliance policies and procedures, develops and provides compliance education and training from the Board level to employees to contracted physicians, drafts and negotiates agreements consistent with the fraud and abuse laws and assists clients with internal investigations and implementing appropriate corrective actions. She counsels health care providers as well as medical device and pharmaceutical companies on compliance with the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, AdvaMed Code of Conduct, PhRMA Code, and state and federal “Sunshine” laws.
Ritu is licensed to practice in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted before the United States Supreme Court and the District Court of the District of New Jersey. She is an honors graduate from The George Washington University (B.A.), a cum laude graduate from Syracuse University (J.D.), and was awarded an L.L.M. in Health Law by Saint Louis University.
Ritu served as the American Health Lawyers Association’s (AHLA’s) Vice Chair of Research and Website for the Hospitals and Health Systems Practice Group for four years, the Vice Chair of Strategic Initiatives for one year and now Vice Chair-Educational Programming. Ritu is also a member of AHLA’s Nominating Committee. She is a past president of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, DC and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Ritu frequently writes and lectures on compliance and the health care fraud and abuse laws.
