Counsel’s Corner: Making Stark Self-Disclosures in 2017

Health Care partner Linda Baumann and associates Hillary Stemple and Kathryn Steffen authored an article for Bloomberg BNA’s Health Law Reporter on the revised Voluntary Self-Referral (Stark) Disclosure Protocol, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted on March 28, 2017.

The revised protocol completely replaces the initial version of the protocol that was posted in 2010. Under the Affordable Care Act, providers generally must return overpayments within 60 days after identification (the 60 Day Rule), and the SRDP is the primary tool that providers can use to return overpayments that are solely caused by an actual or potential violation of the Stark law.

The revised SRDP includes detailed Disclosure, Physician Information, and Financial Analysis Worksheet forms, which must be submitted for each disclosure. While providers are required to begin using the forms in the new SRDP for disclosures beginning on June 1, 2017, CMS has suggested that providers begin using the new SRDP forms immediately.

For more information on the key elements of the revised protocol, click here.