Routine waiver of co-pays would violate which law?

The routine waiver of co-pays primarily raises concerns under the Anti-Kickback Statute, which is designed to prevent any remuneration that could influence clinical decision-making and potentially promote over-utilization of services. This statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving any remuneration to induce referrals for services covered by federal healthcare programs.

When healthcare providers routinely waive co-pays, it can create an incentive for patients to seek more care than they need because they face no out-of-pocket costs. This practice can lead to a conflict of interest, as providers may be incentivized to over-treat patients or provide unnecessary services simply to increase their volume of patients, which poses risks to both the integrity of the care provided and the financial health of federal healthcare programs.

By waiving co-pays routinely, a provider may be effectively offering a financial incentive to patients, and this could be perceived as a form of remuneration intended to attract or retain patients, thus violating the provisions of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

The other laws mentioned may have their own implications but are less directly involved in the specific scenario of waiving patient co-pays. The Stark Law concerns self-referral arrangements when a physician refers patients for certain designated health services to entities with which they