Solved: Compare and contrast the main requirements of the Stark Law and the Federal Anti

Stark Law prohibits a physician from referring a medicare patients for desginated health services to an entity with which it has some sort of financial relationship. The financial relationship can be ownership, commission or equity etc while the anti kick back statutes prohitbits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving anything of value to induce or reward referrals by ANYONE ( not necessary referrral)

While stark law has civil punishments in the form financial penalties and there is no need to prove intent, anti kick back statutes require intent to be proven as well as Criminal liabilities which may amount to 5 year jail.

While anti kickback is restricted to medicare/medicaid only, anti kickback covers all federal health care programs.

One case study which shows the difference between two is Marion ( ohio) General Hospital pays 1.2 MN dollars to resolve allegations of stark law: Here they had financial relationships that did not involve a written contract. It included after hour answering services, medical waste disposal services and provided payment without an independent contract to treat uninsured patients.