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APTA answers FAQ on holiday gifts
Rehab Private Practice Alert, December 21, 2005
In response to questions therapists ask every year, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) recently published "Frequently Asked Marketing Questions: A Guide for Physical Therapists."
The document covers numerous areas such as federal laws regarding marketing to physicians and patients, offering discounts to patients, and waiving co-pays and deductibles.
With the holidays approaching, one of the most common questions APTA received was in reference to giving gifts to referring physicians. APTA's response was, "If you give gifts to physicians who are referral sources, you need to ensure that you are not violating any state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, Stark II self-referral laws and the antikickback laws. These laws were established because the government is concerned about compensation arrangements (which could include gifts) that may distort medical decision-making and result in unfair competition.
"This Stark law states that a physician may not refer Medicare or Medicaid patients for physical therapy services to an entity in which that physician (or immediately family member) has a financial interest. By financial interest, they are referring to ownership, investment, or compensation (e.g. salary, free rental space, non-cash gifts, etc). There are exceptions to the Stark law. Often, physicians and their immediate family members are given non cash items or services that have relatively low value and are not part of a formal written agreement. For example, a physician might receive flowers or free note pads from a provider. Although these discounted or free items would be considered a form of compensation, CMS believes that the compensation is not likely to cause overutilization if it is nominal. Therefore, there is an exception to the Stark law, which allows physicians to receive compensation from an entity (e.g. physical therapist) in the form of items or services that do not exceed $300, updated for inflation each year. Under this exception, a physical therapist can give a phician one non-cash gift per year valued up to $300 or two or more non-cash gifts per year, as long as the annual aggregate value of the gifts does not exceed $300."
To read the full response and to see all the question and answers, go to www.apta.org
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