Leading Healthcare Companies, Associations Ask President Trump to Finalize Release of Regulations Advancing Patient-Centered Care
Modernization of Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute Should Be Promptly Finalized, Organizations Say, “To Deliver Better Care at Lower Cost”
WASHINGTON – More than 120 leading healthcare companies, associations, and patient advocacy groups have urged President Trump to direct a speedy review and release of new federal rules that will modernize outdated fraud and abuse laws and regulations and better enable innovative healthcare collaborations that will allow “hospitals, physicians, healthcare manufacturers and others to deliver better care at lower cost.”
Rules developed by the Department of Health and Human Services to reform the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute were delivered to the Office of Management and Budget on July 21 for final review. The letter asks the president to personally direct a speedy release of the rules, noting “with the completion of this important work so close at hand, a single word from you would lift your team across the finish line.”
The Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute were created to prevent improper financial influence during the fee-for-service era in healthcare. Now, though, the letter signers assert “they do not serve well in a system that is increasingly focused on coordination and payment for value.”
The letter points out that, since the new rules were first proposed in October 2019, they have already undergone extensive formal and informal opportunities for public input.
“We respectfully ask for your support so that these rules can be promptly finalized and victory can be claimed in the name of helping patients get better coordinated care and reducing overall healthcare costs. We are especially concerned that without your timely support, the hard work of the agency and the significant benefits of these reforms will be lost,” the letter concludes.
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For Immediate Release
August 10, 2020
Contact: Kelly Fernandez
202-449-3452 kfernandez@hlc.org
