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On March 30, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services announced a blanket waiver of sanctions for violations of Section 1877 of the Social Security Act, also known as the physician self-referral law or Stark law. Waivers such as this one may be granted by the Secretary to ensure that during an emergency period, to the maximum extent feasible, sufficient health care items and services are available to meet the needs of individuals enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and that health care providers that furnish such items and services in good faith, but that cannot comply with one or more requirements described in the law, may be reimbursed for such items and services and exempted from sanctions for noncompliance, absent any determination of fraud and abuse.
This article summarizes the key requirements of the Waiver and examples of applications of the Waiver that may help health care providers grappling with the COVID-19 national emergency.
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