A P R I L 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 2 7
It's Not Easy to Deep-Six Deadwood Docs
Forcing out lower-producing physician-owners is fraught with risk.
T
hey own
shares in
your surgery
center, but they don't
do their fair share of
cases, which is caus-
ing resentment in
your ranks. And you
want them out. Using
the safe harbor
requirements to
force underperform-
ing surgeons to
redeem their shares
might seem like a
good idea, but it can
backfire.
The safe harbors
that protect ambulatory surgery center investment interests are the
only safe harbors that require a certain level of referrals. Yet failing to
meet one or both of the one-third safe harbor tests — the one-third of
income rule and the one-third of cases rule — doesn't automatically
disqualify a physician from maintaining an investment or create any
real compliance risk. That is because they are only safe harbors. Safe
harbors can insulate you from risk, but failing to meet them does not
cause a violation of the Anti-Kickback Stature (AKS). Even though one
or both of the one-third tests (osmag.net/7KArwB) are not met, the
physician might still be in compliance with the AKS.
Legal Update
John H. Fisher, II
• KICKED TO THE CURB As much as
you'd like to, resist the temptation to
force underperforming physicians to
sell back their ownership shares.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
