Waiving Medicare deductibles or copayments is a violation of which statute?

Waiving Medicare deductibles or copayments is a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. This statute is designed to prevent fraud and abuse in healthcare by prohibiting the offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving of any remuneration to induce referrals or generate federal healthcare program business. When providers waive out-of-pocket costs like deductibles or copayments, it can create a financial incentive that may lead to over-utilization of services and compromise the integrity of the healthcare system.

In this context, such waivers can be seen as an inducement to patients to seek unnecessary medical services, which further violates the intent of the statute. The Anti-Kickback Statute aims to ensure that medical decisions are based on the needs of the patient rather than financial considerations, thereby protecting both the patient and the integrity of federal healthcare programs.

The other statutes mentioned—such as the False Claims Act, which deals with false claims for payment, the Stark Law which governs physician self-referrals, and the Medicare Secondary Payer Act, which regulates the priority of payment sources—address different types of healthcare compliance issues but do not specifically target the waiver of deductibles or copayments in the same manner as the Anti-Kickback Statute.