Stark Law Compliance

ASC Solutions Automate, Simplify and Provide Documented Proof of Stark Law Compliance, Minimizing Your Risks

What’s Your Stark Law Risk Management Strategy?

Stark Law* comprises three provisions to properly govern and  moderate physician self-referral -- or the practice of a physician referring a Medicare and Medicaid patient to a medical facility in which he/she has a financial interest (e.g., ownership, investment, or a structured compensation arrangement).

The main issue with physician self-referral is the inherent conflict of interest, given the physician's position to benefit from the referral. Critics are concerned that self referral may create a captive referral system (limiting competition by other healthcare providers) as well as encourage overutilization of healthcare services, subsequently increasing healthcare costs.

The Stark Law provisions include:

• Stark I -- Which bars self-referrals for clinical laboratory services under the Medicare program (with exceptions to accommodate legitimate business arrangements).
• Stark II -- Expansion of the restriction to a range of additional health services and applied to both Medicare and Medicaid (with clarifications and modifications to the exceptions in the original law as well). 
• Stark III -- Repeal of the prohibitions based on compensation arrangements and the reduction in the list of services subject to the ban so as not to impede physicians' ability to participate in managed care networks.

*The Stark Law is related to, but not the same as, the federal anti-kickback law.

Documented Proof of Stark Law Compliance

ASC contract management software and compliance management solutions automate and streamline workflows, terms and conditions and other business processes required for industry and standards compliance concerns like Stark. ASC solutions provide healthcare organizations and physicians with assurance that contracts, legally binding agreements and other documents contain complete and correct versions of terms and conditions, that full corporate business rules and controls are adhered to and that all necessary information is captured in the correct format as required for Stark Law standards compliance. The ability to find a document and track its complete change history (previous value, current value, who changed the contract/document, the date of change, etc.) is also an invaluable asset for business insights or when compliance proof or real-time disclosure audits are required.

More Information

Request a demo and learn how ASC can help you automate and simplify Stark Law compliance and risk management.

Automated document repository and process management tools to enhance your accountability controls and ensure documented proof of Stark Law compliance