Ethical Breach Case Study

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Consequences for Legal or Ethical Breach Since Stark Law is so broad and complex, there are many realistic examples of legal and/or ethical gaps within healthcare organizations where organizations as whole have faced penalties or just the providers involved in the violations. The following cases refer to specific examples of these infractions. In this first example, a group of four anesthesiologists were engaged as the exclusive anesthesiologists of a Pennsylvanian hospital and were legally entered into signed contractual agreements to provide coverage to the hospital. The hospital in turn provided all equipment, space and personnel to the group at no additional charge. Years later, the hospital opened an ambulatory surgical center and clinic near the hospital and the group began providing pain management coverage at the new clinic as will. They received the same …show more content…
The case involves a group of oncologists that entered into contracts for services that specified the physicians would receive a both a salary and a bonus. The bonus was expected to be drawn from a pool that consisted of 15% of the oncologist departments operating margin. Ironically, in this case, the hospital was made aware a concern for Stark Law violation by hospitals Director of physician Services. The hospital followed through on the concern by retaining a law firm to consult on the bonus pool agreements. The law firm advised the hospital that the pool was legal and within Stark Law regulation because the pool was in compliance with the “bona fide employment exception” because the physicians individual bonus’ were based on the personal clinic production and had no bearing on the referrals. After review in 2011 the courts found that the hospitals were in violation because the pool was based on referrals and billings