Health Law

OIG Blesses Physician Employment Arrangements

By Todd A. Rodriguez

In response to an unusually straightforward fact pattern, the OIG today released an advisory opinion blessing certain part-time physician employment arrangements. The advisory opinion comes in response to a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation’s proposal to employ two physicians on a part-time basis to perform endoscopies on the requestor’s own premises. Each of the physician employees would maintain separate medical practices, at separate premises, at outside of the part-time employment relationship with the requestor. The requestor certified that the physician employees would be bona fide employees in accordance with the employment safe harbor under the anti-kickback statute and that each physician employee would be a salary based on the fair market value of the professional services that he or she personally provides. Based on the facts presented, the OIG concluded that the proposed arrangement would not generate prohibited remuneration under the anti-kickback statute and would fall within the applicable employment safe harbor. The OIG did not opine on the issue of whether the employees would in fact be bona fide employees or on the issue of fair market value of the compensation in question. See Advisory Opinion 08-22

Full post as published by Physician Law on December 15, 2008 (boomark / email).