Legislation has been introduced that would limit the monetary penalty a healthcare provider can suffer for committing a technical violation of the Stark Law.
The bill, the Stark Administrative Simplification Act, is sponsored by Rep. Charles W. Boustany Jr., MD (R-La.), who is a cardiovascular surgeon.
Under the legislation, a single penalty of $5,000 would be imposed when a hospital or physician discloses a technical violation of Stark Law within one year of the noncompliance. The penalty would double to $10,000 if the disclosure is made more than one year after the date of technical compliance.
The legislation also seeks to expedite the review process, calling for a self-disclosure of a violation to be deemed accepted if HHS fails to reject the disclosure within 90 days.
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