Violating Federal Law, Research Paper Example

Conclusion: The ruling by Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman for Cayuga Medical Center to Pay for Violating Federal Law is right. A violation does exist because Federal Law distinctly specifies physician relationships among patients and organizations to which they are financially affiliated..

Issue: Essentially, the Stark Act was violated because it prohibits a physician from referring patients to a hospital or health care service to which he/she has a direct a financial relationship except in special cases applicability. Additionally, the Stark law also prevents hospitals from billing Medicaid for a referral that was prohibited ((Stark Law. 1).  Further, whistleblower, or qui tam, lawsuit was filed by a plastic surgeon Dr. Daniel Jorgenson a plastic surgeon who was actively engaged in the admitting process at Cayuga Medical Center. The surgeon pointed out that in 2007 two questionable recruitment agreements were accepted by the hospital, which significantly proved that there was a violation of the Stark Act. Supportively, CMC sanctioned the appropriateness of the decision by endorsing facts, which proved that there were serious violations of the Stark Act with respect to physician recruitment agreements (Attorney General, 1).

Analysis: The reasoning for the courts’ decision was solely based on application of the Stark Law and the Whistleblower’s proof of its violation.The Stark Law restricts Physicians’   referral. It pertains to them referring Medicaid and Medicare patients to specific institutions and for specialist services. Important restrictions are linked to the physicians’ financial relationship with the entity (Stark Law. 1).  A plastic surgeon, Dr. Daniel Jorgenson was who privileged in admitting patients to Cayuga Medical Center discovered two peculiar referrals that were in violation of this law.

Conclusion: This was a clear case whereby physicians abused their referral privileges’ under the law by sending Medicare/Medicaid patients to Cayuga Medical Center. Consequently, the ruling by Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman for Cayuga Medical Center to Pay for Violating Federal Law

Works cited

Attorney General. Cayuga Medical Center to Pay for Violating Federal Law. Accessed on October 30^th, 2015 from http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-recovers-over-700k-taxpayers-central-new-york-medicaid-whistleblower

Stark Law. Information on penalties, legal practices and latest news. Accessed on October 30^th, 2015 from http://starklaw.org/stark_law.htm