Reply to Maureen Calnan
Hello, Maureen, thank you for the insightful post on the various laws that govern physicians’ conduct, including the false claims act, AKS, and others. I would agree with your argument that violating these laws can result in criminal charges, revocation of the physician’s license. You have excellently discussed the kick-back situations in the medical settings. Besides taking a closer look at how the situation could have comprised kick-backs, frauds, or conflict of interest, it would be critical to determine whether the physician and the clients have a closer relationship. You have offered insightful questions that would lead to unearthing whether the gifting situations would comprise a conflict of interest or even fraud (Graycar, 2020). Besides these questions, I would recommend that one focus on determining the gifting intent and ask additional questions like whether the clients offer gifts to other people, including their friends and close family members, or just to the physician. Does the gift has conditions that the physician must meet or has to reciprocate? Determining whether they are satisfied with their actions and the ethical concerns in it would be critical to ascertain whether they comprise aspects of conflict of interest and or are fraudulent.
Reply to Rachel Watson
Hi. I would agree with you that the care provider ought to follow the laws and regulations set in place to govern the process of care provision and reimbursements such as when acting as e agents of Medicaid and Medicare programs. You have excellently demonstrated that the case of DR. Stevens gifting behaviors is questionable since it comprises a financial relationship between him and the clients. I would add that such gifting is a violation of the federal regulations as the anti-kick-back statute prohibits them even when excluding items of reasonable cost (Pozgar, 2019). Besides the questions that you have offered, which would unmask the intentions behind the gifting, I would recommend that there should be further analysis of the correlation of the gifts and changes in the numbers of referrals received and whether the gifts are offered through the right channels. You have offered an excellent policy recommendation in which there should be organizations of office holiday parties and gifting of restricted value. Besides, I believe that the abolition of gifts in the ordinary course of working will create a foundation for legal measures if a physician violates such policies.