AHA to Congress: Remove legal barriers to care coordination

The AHA today shared with Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services a report examining barriers to transforming health care delivery created by outdated fraud and abuse laws. The report identifies seven major barriers created by the Stark and Anti-Kickback laws and/or regulations that impede hospitals’ ability to coordinate care, and uses the example of a hypothetical 75-year-old patient navigating the health care system to illustrate the impact on patient care. It recommends enacting comprehensive safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback law and reforms to the Stark law to remove outdated barriers and replace them with measures to foster teamwork and ensure accountability. For more, see today’s AHA Stat blog. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) last week released a white paper examining aspects of the Stark law that prevent moving to alternative payment models.