Florida’s Patient Self-Referral Act, along with new pain medicine and prescription rules, provide significant traps for the unwary. Learn how to avoid these traps that could lead to medical practice disaster and understand what healthcare lawyers and advisors need to know about the Act, clinic registration requirements, and law enforcement actions and initiatives.

Many professionals have Florida clients who may be in compliance with federal self-referral, billing, patient privacy, anti-kickback, non-physician owned practice, advertising and other regulations but who do not realize that Florida has different and often stricter civil and criminal rules that must be followed. This, coupled with active Florida Attorney General enforcement, makes it crucial to make sure that these laws are understood and followed.

Healthcare attorneys Lester Perling and Alan Gassman will provide their extensive materials which simplify an otherwise extremely complex and confusing labyrinth of rules and regulations. Aimed at healthcare lawyers and advisors who represent corporate or individual medical practices, the presentation and outline will explain the primary dangers and provide information on how to avoid them.

Educational Objectives:

• Understand why every doctor in Florida who prescribes medication for chronic non-malignant pain should have registered with the Department of Health by December 31, 2011, and what to do if that did not occur.

• Learn how to determine whether a medical practice is a “pain clinic” and the operation and regulatory requirements for such practices.

• Understand the requirements for participation in the new Department of Health Web Portal to report all covered controlled substance prescriptions, and why non-prescribing providers should also join the Portal program.

• Learn how Florida’s Patient Self-Referral Act is similar but dangerously different from the Stark Law and how to avoid criminal penalties and loss of billing ability sanctions that can apply notwithstanding compliance with the Stark Law.

• Find out about situations where the Florida Patient Self-Referral Act permits conduct for non-Medicare/non-Medicaid activities that would not otherwise be permitted under the Stark Law.

• Understand how Florida’s non-competition rules impact physicians and physician practices.

Who would benefit most from attending this program?

The program will be most beneficial for healthcare lawyers and advisors who represent corporate or individual medical practices in Florida. They will benefit from the speakers elucidating the complicated rules and regulations regarding Florida’s Patient Self-Referral Act and pain medicine and prescription rules.

Program Level: Intermediate