Question

With the advent of hospital-driven and run healthcare, the Stark Law has outlived its usefulness and should be repealed

Answer 1

In 1989, Congress passed the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act, which was eventually nicknamed Stark after Rep. Pete Stark, a Democrat from California, who sponsored the initial bill. The original statute sought to ban physician self-referral for designated services when a patient was covered by Medicare or another government payer. Self-referral occurs when physicians refer patients for designated health services to hospitals, labs and other entities from which they or an immediate family member benefit financially. In addition, self-referral is the practice of a physician referring a patient to a medical facility in which they have a financial interest, ownership, investment, or a structured compensation arrangement.

Even though healthcare is evolving, I believe that Stark Law should remain enacted. It is important to protect and control any possible fraud and mishandling or patient referrals. If physicians are simply referring their patients to a facility just for a special kickback, that is abuse of the system. Patients could possibly not receive the best possible care from physicians that are the best in their specialty. Patients should not be prevented from receiving the utmost best care available to them. Lastly, the Stark Law is expected to undergo some changes due to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA). These Stark Law reform initiatives, in response to the move to value-based payments under Medicare, are also currently underway. In this case, the Stark Law needs to remain.