When the quality and safety of patient care is at stake, the law aggressively punishes those who are willing to pay and receive payment for patient referrals. Numerous state and federal anti-kickback laws are designed to prevent and discourage unscrupulous marketing practices such as paying "body brokers" to find potential clients or offering financial incentives to induce someone to enter a recovery program.

Too often, healthcare organizations and providers fail to recognize unlawful marketing activity. They make serious missteps in their methods for obtaining referrals, even where there is no intent to break the law. This can give rise to liability for unlawful kickbacks under state and federal laws, including the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA). The latter law has been aggressively enforced in recent years, with numerous individuals being criminally convicted of violating the law. There also has been a recent uptick in federal enforcement against false and misleading advertising practices, especially over the use of online call centers. Furthermore, there is the risk that health care plans and insurers will allege fraud and overpayments against providers that engage in questionable marketing and business development practices.

This webinar aims to identify the types of marketing and advertising practices that are deemed unlawful and unethical. We will provide participants with an understanding of the laws that punish "kickbacks" and false advertising so that stakeholders can effectively and lawfully obtain referrals and improve patient care without the risk of overpayments, fraud allegations, or worse.