Physicians Warned to Ensure Medical Directorships are Fair Market Value

Yesterday, the DHHS OIG issued a fraud alert warning physicians to make sure that medical directorships reflect fair market value and otherwise comply with the federal anti-kickback statute.  The short fraud alert is available for download here.  This is the third shot across the bow by the OIG directed at physicians in the last three years.  The OIG issued fraud alerts in 2013 and 2014 concerning physician-owned device distributorships and lab payments to physicians, respectively.  This latest fraud alert appears to be part of a trend by the OIG to inform physicians that its enforcement efforts are not limited to hospitals and organizations.  The impetus for the alert issued yesterday was the settlement by the OIG with 12 physicians “who entered into questionable medical directorship and office staff arrangements.”