Question

Describe the Major provisions of the Stark 1 and 2 laws and safe harbor regulations.

Answer 1

The main theme of the Stark law is a healthcare fraud and abuse law which stops any physician from referring the patient to some specific and selected healthcare services which are mainly sponsored by Medicare to any constituent with which a financial relationship exists. The term financial relationship is defined quite comprehensively by the federal government in order to accommodate any direct or indirect ownership or investment initiated by the physician along with the different financial concerns of any other physician’s immediate family member.

The safe harbour can be seen as a provision in the law or any regulation which facilitates safeguarding from any kind of liability or punishment under some certain conditions or when some specific situations are created. In some cases, the liability can be reduced under this provision when good faith can be depicted. There are number of fields of law in which this concept is implemented along with taxation for instance the provision of Safe Harbour 401(k)