The Medicare and Medicaid anti-kickback law: charting your safe harbors

The Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse provisions create many potential pitfalls for physicians; navigating around these problem areas can be tricky. This article discusses recently published federal regulations providing "safe harbors" from the anti-kickback provisions of Medicare and Medicaid law, with particular emphasis on the more common relationships between physicians and hospitals. Those safe harbors that are most and least useful to the physician are highlighted, and advice is offered for evaluating the relative risks involved where no safe harbor is available or fully applicable.