Myth Buster: Providers violate federal law by accepting donated EHR software

MYTH: Providers violate federal law by accepting donated EHR software

FACT: Federal health care program fraud and abuse laws protect donations of EHR software provided certain requirements are met

The Federal Anti-kickback Law and the Physician Self-Referral (Stark) Law prohibit or restrict financial arrangements among healthcare industry participants that refer federal healthcare program (e.g., Medicare) patients to each other. There are a number of financial arrangements that pose low or no risk of program or patient abuse, which the laws carve out as exceptions ("safe harbors" in the Anti-Kickback Law); one exception is for donations of EHR systems to healthcare providers by certain healthcare entities. To learn more about these anti-fraud and abuse laws and the EHR exceptions, read our Myth Buster below.