We reported, in early 2017, on what was then the latest legislative effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s amendment to the Stark Law’s whole hospital exception, which amendment has effectively prevented new physician-owned hospitals from participating in the Medicare program. (You can visit—or revisit—that post, which explores arguments in favor of and in opposition to the restriction, here.)
While the Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2017, introduced in the House in February 2017 and, in May 2017, the Senate, did not pass, recent rumblings suggest that repeal efforts are far from exhausted; rather, proponents of physician hospital ownership may be targeting a new tactic: regulation.
Continue Reading Lifting the Limits on Physician-Owned Hospitals: Can Regulators Prevail Where Legislators Have Stalled?