Over the last several years, a difficult issue facing many hospitals has been the increasing reluctance of physicians to provide emergency department on-call coverage without compensation. This is problematic not only from patient care and economic standpoints, but also because payment for on-call services is subject to scrutiny under health care fraud and abuse laws.
Looking at this issue, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) addressed a payment arrangement between a hospital and specialist physicians on its medical staff for on-call coverage (to be paid on a per diem basis) in an advisory opinion published October 30 (No. 12-15). After examining this per diem payment arrangement, the OIG indicated that while the arrangement could potentially generate prohibited remuneration under the federal anti-kickback statute (if the requisite intent were present), the OIG would not impose administrative sanctions.
