| For the fourth time in three years, CMS has delayed the effective date of the last sentence in the Stark Regulations, originally posted in the Federal Register in January of 2001. The culprit for the additional delay is the controversy over the definition of percentage compen-sation that is “set in advance”. According to the December 24, 2003 Federal Register, the delay “will give (CMS) additional time to reconsider the definition… in order to avoid unnecessarily disrupting existing contractual arrangements for physician services.”
The agency further states that “compensation that is required to be “set in advance” ...may continue to be based on percentage compensation methodologies, including those in which the compensation is based on a percentage of a fluctuating or indeterminate measure.” The example provided to describe “fluctuating or indeterminate” is compensation based on percentage of revenues billed or collected for physician services.
CMS states that the definition of “set in advance” will be addressed “definitively” prior to the new effective date of July 7, 2004 .
To see the notice delaying the rule, go to www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a031224c.html |
