In a nutshell, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law make it a crime with serious penalties for providers of medical services to pay or accept any form of remuneration such as kickbacks or anything of value in exchange for receiving referrals of patients who obtain medical treatment paid by government healthcare programs including Medicare and Medicaid, and from entering into certain kinds of financial relationships.
The Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law are designed to keep medical treatment decisions independent from any influence of possible financial gain. The Anti-Kickback Law and the laws prohibiting other unlawful financial arrangements are designed to prevent healthcare providers from referring patients for healthcare services that are not medically necessary.
The Department of Justice has declared that, “[p]atients are entitled to be sure that the care they receive is based on their actual medical needs rather than the financial interests of their physician.”