The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently issued an unfavorable Advisory Opinion (No. 25‑12) addressing a home health care agency’s proposal to offer sign‑on bonuses to prospective employees who are in a position to refer patients (usually family members) to the employer for home care. The Opinion concluded that offering such bonus payments risks violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) law when the recruited employee serves as a patient’s healthcare decision-maker and brings the patient under the care of the agency paying the bonus.
The bonus may be seen as an inducement for the employee to place patients under the care of the agency offering the bonus. The OIG concluded that the proposal would be a prohibited offer of remuneration under the AKS and the beneficiary inducements prohibition provision of the CMP law if there is an intent to induce referrals. Under either statute, the offer could result in civil monetary penalties and exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
There is intense competition among home care agencies for both patient lives and reliable skilled employees. When the employee recruitment includes an inducement to bring patients in exchange for remuneration, the risk of violating AKS and CMP is substantial.
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