Elyas Bakhtiari interviewed me for his September article on the proposed Stark regulation revisions tucked into the physician fee schedule regulation. Check out a PDF of the September issue of Physician Compensation Report right here. It's published by Health Leaders Media, and the Stark article is the lead story.
Among other things, I said:
This is the sort of thing that makes physicians throw up their hands. It is yet another factor that would lead many physicians to lean more toward work as an employee rather than as an entrepreneur.
Of course, once this issue went to "press," CMS went ahead and released the final Stark II, Phase III regulations a few months before its self-imposed deadline. Check out the CMS press release, the full text of the regs, and the redlined version of the Stark Phase III regs. They are to be published this week (September 5) in the Federal Register, and will be effective 90 days after publication.
As with the publication of the interim final regs a few years back, we can look forward to some restructuring of noncompliant deals, though not all arrangements currently in effect will need to be overhauled immediately.
Check back here at HealthBlawg for more on Stark Phase III as I dig out from vacation.
-- David Harlow
