A STAT News article, “How a Texas Couple is Getting Rich Off Out-of-Network Medical Bills,” explores how entrepreneurs Scott and Alla LaRoque built profitable businesses like MPOWERHealth, an intraoperative neuromonitoring company, by finding ways to exploit the 2020 No Surprises Act—a law intended to protect patients from unexpected medical bills by out-of-network providers. The investigation exposes how companies use the No Surprises Act’s arbitration system to secure large payouts. Rivkin Radler’s Eric Fader was quoted in the article.
MPOWERHealth structures joint venture arrangements with surgeons who refer their cases for neuromonitoring. Eric pointed out that MPOWERHealth’s claim that these arrangements are lawful may hinge on the “tenuous” distinction that rather than MPOWERHealth directly paying the surgeons kickbacks for their patient referrals, the neuromonitoring proceeds flow first to the surgeons’ LLCs, which then distribute payments to the surgeons, the neurologists who monitor cases, and finally, back to MPOWERHealth.
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