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Creating Legally Successful, Multidisciplinary Health Care Practices: Fee-Splitting, Kickbacks, Stark Analysis, Corporate Practice of Medicine, Unlicensed Practice, Employment, and Other Issues

By Michael H. Cohen, Esq.

Multidisciplinary clinical practices present complex and overlapping legal issues including fee-splitting and kickback questions.

Introduction

            Whether the health care practitioners involved are physicians, nurses, psychologists and other allied health providers, or complementary and alternative medical (CAM) professionals (such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, naturopathic physicians, hypnotherapists, and others), health law attorneys must consider legal issues such as licensing and scope of practice, professional discipline, malpractice liability, insurance questions, and other legal areas.

            Some of the thorniest areas of legal complexity involve the intersection of legal issues such as fee-splitting, kickbacks, Stark issues, the corporate practice of medicine, unlicensed practice, use of employees vs. independent contractors, and other legal issues that arise when integrating various health care practitioners. Our prior articles analyze some of these areas. See, for example:

...         Legal Issues in a Medical Spa or Integrative Care Center: Anti-kickback and Fee-Splitting Concerns - The Laws (discussion of Stark, federal anti-kickback laws, and state fee-splitting laws).

...         Legal Issues in a Medical Spa or Integrative Care Center: Anti-kickback and Fee-Splitting Concerns - Structuring the Practice (discussion of potential ways our attorneys structure multidisciplinary clinical practices involving complementary and alternative medicine, holistic health, and medical spa therapies).

...         Managing Fee Splitting Issues in the Integrative Care Center or Medical Spa - 2 (further discussion of the 'Center' vs. 'Mall' models).

...         Should a physician who contracts with an integrative care center or medical spa be classified as an employee or independent contractor - Corporate Practice of Medicine Concerns

...         Employee v. Independent Contractor in the Medical Spa or Integrative Care Center

...         Should a physician who contracts with an integrative care center or medical spa be classified as an employee or independent contractor?

...         Federal Self-Referral (Stark) and Anti-Kickback Analysis for Integrative Care Centers

...         The Mall Model: A Legal Structure to Handle Anti-Kickback Concerns of Integrative Care Centers

            As suggested, the legal analysis in these articles applies to:

...         Health care practices consisting solely of physicians

...         Health care practices containing a mix of physicians (medical doctors and/or osteopaths) and allied health professionals such as psychologists, nurses, dentists, and others

...         Health care practices containing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) providers, either together or in combination with physicians and allied health professionals

...         Medical spas and holistic health care facilities that have CAM providers and/or physicians and allied health professionals on staff.

            Because these issues are legally complex, from time to time we update and/or rewrite our articles to give a more coherent picture of the legal landscape. Here is our June 2010 update.

            To simplify matters, we're going to use the term 'Center,' whether we are dealing with an integrative clinical care facility, an integrative center within a larger health care organization, a medical spa, or some similar facility. We'll also use the term 'practitioner,' although in some cases we might be dealing with a licensed medical doctor, or with an MD housed within a professional medical corporation ('PMC').

Kickbacks and Fee-Splitting

            Question: Is it illegal to split the payment between the Center and the practitioner?

            Answer: It depends on several things, including:

...         the flow of payments between the patient, the Center and the practitioner;

...         the compensation arrangement between the Center and the practitioner; and

...         the exact prohibitions under state anti-kickback and fee-splitting law, as applicable as well as federal anti-kickback law

            Many clients call our health law attorneys and present a typical arrangement in which the Center accepts a fee for service from the patient, and then splits it with the practitioner.  For example, the patient pays the Center $100; the Center then gives the psychologist, chiropractor, acupuncturist or massage therapist a percentage (say 60% or $60), and retains a percentage (say 40% or $40).

            There are two potential legal pitfalls here. The first concerns federal (and sometimes state) laws prohibiting 'kickbacks.' Both the Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office of the Inspector General (OIG) opinions consider kickbacks a form of health care fraud and abuse.  In simplest terms, a kickback involves giving or receiving something of value in exchange for a referral.

            Our example could potentially be seen as a kickback, because it is a compensation arrangement in which the practitioner can be seen to be paid in exchange for referring patients to an entity (the Center), as opposed to getting paid market value for health care services.  Essentially, the patient pays the Center, and the Center 'kicks back' 60% to the therapist or practitioner.

            The second legal issue is fee-splitting. To give an example of state law addressing fee-splitting, New York Education Law, section 6509-a includes within the definition of professional misconduct, a situation in which a health care professional 'has directly or indirectly requested, received or participated in the division, transference, assignment, rebate, splitting or refunding of a fee for, or has directly requested, receive or profited by means of a credit or other valuable consideration as a commission, discount or gratuity in connection with the furnishing of professional care, or service….'

            In plain language, the term 'fee-splitting' means dividing a fee between the Center and the practitioner. In this case, the $100 payment to the Center could be viewed as 40-60 split of the practitioner's fee to the Center.

            Sometimes an arrangement can involve both an illegal kickback and illegal fee-splitting, and sometimes it can involve one and not the other. It is always important to do the analysis under relevant state laws, in addition to any federal laws that may apply.

            One common-sense way to understand these prohibitions is this:

...         The health care provider) cannot pay the Center, or receive payment from the Center for, a ‘volume-based discount.' By health care provider we typically, but not always, mean the physician (MD or DO), because there is normally a state law that prohibits medical doctors from receiving volume-based discounts.  Some states will include other practitioners such as chiropractors (this is the case, for example, in NY). By volume-based discount we mean a payment that varies, depending on the number of patients that either the practitioner or the Center, refer to one another. 

...         Sometimes we say that the practitioner cannot be paid on a per-patient basis.  This is the same as saying that volume-based compensation is prohibited. 

            The problem arises in part due to payment flow. The payment flow from the patient, to the Center, to the practitioner itself raises fee-splitting and kickback concerns. The flow of payments makes it appear as though there is a volume-based arrangement and/or splitting of fees. The compensation arrangement therefore must be carefully analyzed and justified to ensure that it is based on fees that are earned by the practitioner, and not simply the fact that the practitioner is generating a lot of patient revenues for the Center (or the Center for the practitioner).

Structuring the Arrangement to Manage Legal Risk of Illegal Fee-Splitting or Kickback

            Our law office uses several business structures to try to manage kickback and fee-splitting legal concerns. Of course there is never any guarantee that a proposed arrangement will not be investigated or subject to enforcement action. However, one can design structures that take account of legal roadblocks and attempt to create a flow of payments that respect existing legal rules.

"Medical Mall" Model

            The simplest model is one we call the Medical Mall. In this model, the Center is like a mall that has various "storefronts," such as:

...         A center for cosmetic spa therapies like massage and esthetic services.

...         A medical practice.

...         A nutritional practice.

...         An exercise physiology and lifestyle counseling practice.

...         A psychology and mental health counseling practice.

            Patients come to the Mall, but they pay each store owner (or practice owner) directly for services. In this model, the primary business leases treatment rooms or space to independent practitioners who are simply tenants.

            The practitioner rents space from the Center, and pays the Center for management, administrative and marketing services, such as:

...         Bookkeeping and accounting.

...         Storing records.

...         Managing information systems.

...         Front desk services and scheduling appointments.

...         Marketing the practice.

...         Billing patients, coding super-bills, and/or interacting with insurance.

            In essence, although these services benefit the practice, they are really for the Center. The Center is essentially marketing itself by marketing the practice, for example, since the patient belongs to the Center and not to the practice.

            The flow of payments is from the patient to the practice for health care services, and from the practice to the Center for management, administrative and marketing services. Conceptually, this should not involve kickbacks or fee-splitting, because there is no unearned fee going to either the practitioner or the Center in exchange for patient referrals.

            The lease should be a separate written contract.  Lease payments will have to be for the market value of the lease, and not be tied to the volume of patients the practitioner sees or refers to the Center or Spa.  However, in order to accommodate ramp-up time in the practice, the lease can establish a rising amortization payment over time.

            There could also be a separate equipment lease.  For example, the medical Spa may buy an expensive laser and lease its use to the medical doctor.

            Beyond the lease, there is a separate agreement, which our integrative health care, medical spa law attorneys draft, to govern the understanding between the Center and the practitioners beyond the lease itself. Among other things, the agreement specifies that:

...         The practitioner is an independent contractor, with independent medical (or other professional) judgment, to see its own patients at the Center.

...         The medical records are owned and maintained by the practitioner, although the practitioner can give the Center a right to a copy of those records.

...         The practitioner pays the Center a monthly management or administrative fee.

...         The patient makes payment out to the practice.

...         The Center can serve as the billing and collecting agent for the practice, and be authorized to:

o   deposit payments directly into the practitioner's  account for services rendered to the patient by the practitioner; and

o   withdraw its administrative or management fee from the account it maintains for the practitioner.

The Medical Mall provides two potential legal advantages:

...         From a corporate practice of medicine standpoint, the practice is an independent whole that stands on its own (again, like a storefront within a mall), and therefore less subject to financial pressures from the Center regarding the provision of health care services. In short, the legal structure helps alleviate corporate practice of medicine concerns.

...         From a liability standpoint, the practice is again at one more remove from the Center, and thus the Center arguably has an additional liability buffer from the liabilities of the practice.

            From an operational standpoint, insurance practices may be easier. Since patients belong to the individual practice, the Center can take advantage of the existing billing and coding practices within each the individual practice. Additionally, it may be easier to justify visits as medically necessary.

            From a financial standpoint, the practice has the opportunity to generate better cash flow, assuming its lease and other payments to the Center are not too high compared to patient revenues.

            The Center Model

            In the "Center" model, the Center (and not the individual practice) is the entity dealing with the patient. Patients belong to the Center (not the practice), and the Center simply hires the practitioner to perform designated services.   Patients come to the Center, and they pay the Center directly for services rendered by various practitioners.

            The Center provides management, administrative and marketing services, such as:

...         Bookkeeping and accounting.

...         Storing records.

...         Managing information systems.

...         Front desk services and scheduling appointments.

...         Marketing the practice.

...         Billing patients, coding super-bills, and/or interacting with insurance.

            The flow of payments is from the patient to the Center for health care services, and from the Center to the practitioner for services rendered to the patient. Conceptually, this should not involve kickbacks or fee-splitting, because there is no unearned fee going to either the practitioner or the Center in exchange for patient referrals.

            Our integrative health care, medical spa law attorneys draft an agreement to govern the understanding between the Center and the practitioners. Among other things, the agreement specifies that:

...         The practitioner is an independent contractor, with independent medical (or other professional) judgment, to see the Center's patients.

...         If the state has a strong corporate practice of medicine doctrine and the practitioner is a medical doctor, then the medical records should be owned and maintained by the practitioner, although the practitioner can give the Center a right to a copy of those records. Otherwise records can be shared among practitioners or a central (i.e., electronic) record can be created, with each having the right to contemporaneous access and copies upon termination. Patients should be required to execute a consent authorizing access by multiple caregivers within the Center.

...         The patient makes payment out to the Center.

...         The Center pays the practitioner, typically a flat fee such as:

o   $X per Botox injection

o   $Y per hour of medical services

o   $Z per month.

o   To avoid the appearance of a kickback, it is better if this is a flat fee and not a percentage, because regulators can always view a percentage-based arrangement as suspiciously looking like a kickback.

§ If a percentage, the fee must be earned - in other words, must reflect value of services rendered. The argument is that is not a volume-based kickback, because the provider is inside the entity and is getting paid the exact same amount per procedure.  In other words, the provider is not being paid for the volume of patients referred to the Center or Spa.  For example, if the doc refers patients to other providers within the entity, the doc is not thereby profiting. However, that analysis depends on both federal and relevant state law, and again, regulators can be skeptical of revenue-sharing arrangements.

...         Of course, were the arrangement to offer the physician compensation in exchange for referring patients, say, to the massage therapists within the Center or Spa, that would be illegal.  (Note that the doc could refer to other doctors downstream within a "group practice," meaning other docs who spend 75% or more of their time within the practice and have a partnership agreement to that end.  This is a so-called "safe harbor" under the federal statute known as the in-office ancillary exception).

§ Performance bonuses can be included, so long as they are not based on the volume of patients seen; otherwise it looks like a kickback for patient referrals.

...         The Center can serve as the billing and collecting agent for the practice (or farm this out to a third-party MSO or medical billing & collections service).

            The operational advantage of the Center model is that it creates the appearance of a truly integrated center and potentially induces cross-referrals within the center that generate additional revenues as well as enhancing collegiality across disciplines. The "Center" model also should be easier to implement administratively, since patients are all making payment to the same entity (the Center).

            From a financial standpoint, the Center has the possibility of generating more cash flow, assuming it can reasonably control the service fees the Center pays its practitioners. Note that the shorter the contract term, the more regularly the service fee can be adjusted for a growing or declining practice, respectively; however, a one-year term may be required if self-referral, 'Stark' issues are implicated.

            Hybrid Model

            Centers can choose the "Medical Mall" option for some of their practitioners (for example, for the MDs) and the "Center" option for the rest.

            Caution: It may be administratively (and psychologically) challenging to migrate from an all-Mall option, say, to an all-Center option, so it is important to structure the practice carefully from the beginning.

            MSO Model

            The MSO Model is a variant of the Center Model. In the MSO model, there is a PMC or similar clinician professional group, and the locus of control for the practice is this group rather than the Center.

            The group contracts with the Center to act for it as a management service organization, which can provide claims management, accounting, marketing, and other management services, and even hold assets. 

            The Center and MSO models are variations of the same two-entity structure, in which there is a business entity (the Center or MSO), and a clinical entity (the practice or the group).

            However, in the MSO model, the group has much more control over the patients and the flow of payments.  And the Center is functioning more like an MSO to a physician group, because of its distance from the powerful group within it.

            As to arrangements between the Center and the group, the legal options are affected by additional state law matters, such as:

...         who can belong in a professional service organization (the variety of the practitioners to be included and their relative scopes of practice); and

...         state corporate practice of medicine rules.

            In actual practice, of course, the distinction between the Center and MSO model may not be as clear-cut. For example, a licensed practitioner may be an owner of the Center, and utilize the Center Model, but want or need to contract with a separate PMC for health care services, due to liability or corporate concerns. Or, a non-licensed investor may want to be a member of the PMC, which in some states under some circumstances might be acceptable and might be unacceptable in other states.

            But even where the distinctions may appear blurred, analyzing under the basic models helps keep the legal analysis clear.

            Employee v. Independent Contractor: Some Complexities Involving Compensation

            We have addressed questions about classifying workers as employees or independent contractors in previous articles, and there are subtleties at the state law level.

            These distinctions do get handled in the agreement between Center and practitioner, including where compensation arrangements are discussed.

            Sometimes the solution is simply to use a professional corporation. If the health care practitioner is housed within a professional corporation, it may be that the department is satisfied by the practitioner being an employee of the professional corporation ('PC')  (while the PC is an independent contractor to the Center).

            Note that in the Mall Model, there is no "compensation" to the practitioner; rather, the clinician is simply a tenant renting space from the Center and receiving administrative and management services in return.

            With regard to revenue-sharing, the following additional points are important:

...         A revenue-sharing arrangement does not work in the Mall Model, because rent is a sum certain and if compensation were structured as a percentage of revenues then it would be viewed as a volume-based incentive to refer; and in any event, the flow of payments from patient to practice to the Center would be seen an a kickback.

...         A revenue-sharing arrangement in lieu of straight compensation could potentially work in the Center Model if the percentage paid to the practitioner is fair market value ('FMV') for productivity/production, and the corresponding percentage retained by the Center is FMV for rent/equipment/administrative and management services. The agreement between the Center and practitioner should specify the exchange of payments and justify FMV.

            Thus:

...         In order to put a practitioner on revenue-sharing arrangement he or she would have to be on the Center Model, because revenue-sharing would be illegal in the Mall Model.

...         If the practitioner is on the Mall Model, then the question of whether to classify as an independent contractor vs. employee is moot, because there is no 'compensation'—he or she is just a tenant.

...         However, if the practitioner is on the Center Model, then we must look to see how the state labor department would consider the arrangement.

            Corporate Practice of Medicine Concerns

            As noted, the prohibition against corporate practice of medicine provides additional complexities. 

            To acknowledge this doctrine, the agreement between the Center and practitioner specifies that the practitioner has independent professional judgment.  For example, the Center cannot, simply because it needs the money, pressure the doctor to treat a patient who is not a good candidate for Botox.

Full post as published by Complementary And Alternative Medicine Law Blog on June 28, 2010 (boomark / email).