Stark Rules require Physician Leases to be properly structured and audited

Stark Rules require Physician Leases to be properly structured and audited. An important law about physician referrals in the US is the Stark Law. Short for The Physician Anti-Referral Law (known as Stark II), the Stark Law requires compliance with its provisions by healthcare providers that file claims, failing which the authorities can initiate enforcement actions.
The Stark Laws, which have been implemented in stages such as Stark II and Stark III, have been enacted with the purpose of eliminating malpractices in the healthcare sector. These laws specify which actions from the physician are deemed unlawful.
Physician Leases are an integral part of the Stark Laws
Physician Leases are an integral part of the Stark Laws. Physician Leases are agreed upon between health systems, hospitals, medical groups and physician practices. when healthcare providers lease physical spaces to physicians, the agreements should be in compliance with the rules set out by the Stark Laws.
The Safe Harbor Exceptions clauses of the Stark Laws regulate the leasing arrangements between the healthcare provider and the physician. Fair market value is one of the primary considerations of Physician Leases under the Stark Laws. Stark Rules require Physician Leases to be properly structured and audited because among other things, the Stark Laws require the lease agreement to:
o Be in writing
o Be of at least a one-year term
o Set the rental rate in advance, which should be at the existing market rate, and should be independent of the number of referrals the practice gets. The agreed rent and other payments have to be made even if there is no referral at all
o Be comprehensive to cover and specify all the components of the leased premises
o State the terms of periods of use, i.e., whether it is to be used for part-time or fulltime purposes
o Prohibit subleasing to any other practice or businessr
Stark Rules require Physician Leases to be properly structured and audited in view of these important provisions of the Stark Laws. The points to keep in mind and the ways of formulating these Physician Leases will be taught at a webinar that is being organized by MentorHealth, a leading provider of professional trainings for the healthcare industry.
Joseph Wolfe, an atto
ey with Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C., the largest health care focused law firm in the country; will be the speaker at this webinar. To gain a proper understanding of how and why Stark Rules require Physician Leases to be properly structured and audited; just visit http://www.mentorhealth.com/control/w_product/~product_id=800912LIVE?Articles-SEO to enroll for this webinar.
In addition to making participants understand why Stark Rules require Physician Leases to be properly structured and audited; Joseph will also explain the changes that have taken place into the Stark Law for 2016. The crux of this learning is that Joseph will impart understanding of the regulatory requirements, key provisions, valuation considerations and potential pitfalls that should be avoided. He will show how to draft Physician Leases that are legally defensible, so that expensive legal proceedings can be prevented.
In the course of this valuable discussion, Joseph will cover the following areas:
o Provide a general Stark Law overview
o Examine critical components of Stark compliant leases
o Discuss best practices for drafting leases and the related financial terms
o Describe best practices for auditing leases
o Review processes for documenting fair market value and commercial reasonableness
o Discuss best practices for auditing existing leases and potential pitfalls