Fast Facts: Electronic Health Record Exceptions under Federal Anti-kickback Law and Physician Self-Referral Law Extended

The Federal Anti-Kickback Law and the Physician Self-Referral (Stark) Law are designed to protect against fraud and abuse in federal healthcare programs (e.g., Medicare). Each law includes a number of exceptions (“safe harbors” in the Anti-Kickback Law) that protect innocuous arrangements without penalty, including the newly extended and modified Electronic Health Record (EHR) exceptions, which protect the donation of items and services necessary for and used primarily to create, maintain, transmit, or receive EHRs. Read about the requirements for this exception and the changes made by the updated rules in our Fast Facts below.