Health care anti-kickback laws

Characterizing its objective as a “regulatory sprint to coordinated care,” the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General this summer asked stakeholders for their input on how it might ease federal anti-kickback laws in ways that promote better coordination of care and cooperation between different types of caregivers while not encouraging fraud that costs consumers and taxpayers. At the heart of this effort are laws that limit the ability of doctors and hospitals to work together.  Hospitals, for example, currently have limited tools with which to influence the behavior of doctors serving Medicare and Medicaid patients [...]