Healthcare companies can now propose new ways to avoid fraud penalties

The US government is asking for new ideas on how healthcare companies can avoid penalties for illegal kickbacks. This means companies can suggest specific business practices that the government would then declare legal, even if they might otherwise look like fraud.

The US government has rules against kickbacks in healthcare, which are payments or gifts meant to influence medical decisions. But it also has 'safe harbor' exceptions, which protect certain arrangements from being considered illegal. This annual call for proposals allows healthcare companies to directly influence what counts as a legal business practice, potentially opening new ways to structure deals without fear of prosecution. It shifts the burden of defining 'safe' from regulators to the industry itself.