As of October 3, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget completed its review of the proposed rules for “modernizing and clarifying” the Physician Self-Referral Regulations and revising the safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback Statute and rules regarding the Beneficiary Inducement Civil Monetary Penalties Law.

These regulations were the subject of two Requests for Information (RFIs) issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) and the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in the summer of 2018. Collectively, the agencies received over 700 comments in response to the RFIs, which are part of HHS’s broad Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care. Based on the questions posed in the RFIs, CMS and OIG have explored how much flexibility they can give to healthcare entities to allow for coordinated, value based care while still protecting federal programs and beneficiaries.

We expect that these highly anticipated proposed rules will be published within the week. Stay tuned for our analysis of these rules and whether they achieve the agencies’ promise of facilitating more flexibility and innovation in the health care industry.