Hospital materials managers must understand HHS's safe harbor regulations. Part 1

Much has been written and said in the past year about what is being called the Safe Harbor Regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is vital that hospital materials managers be attentive to these regulations and to the statutes from which they arose. In this dialogue, Dr. Decker reviews the background of the regulations and lists principal parts which relate to the hospital materials manager. Also covered are some of the provisions of the regulations which are of lesser concern to the hospital materials manager. In subsequent articles, provisions of the regulations which are of greatest concern to hospital materials managers will be dealt with in some detail, and several cases which preceded the regulations will be briefed. This is Part 1 of a three-part series.