Healthcare industry "anxiously" awaits new Medicare fraud and abuse regulations.

Abstract

The Medicare and Medicaid Patient Protection Act of 1987 (1) requires the government to specify, by regulation, particular payment arrangements among health care providers and practitioners that are legal under the Medicare "anti-kickback" statute. As there has been little guidance from the government in the past with respect to this matter, the healthcare industry anxiously awaits regulations implementing the new law and hopes ambiguities regarding arrangements which might constitute fraud and abuse will be resolved.