Anti-kickback Implications of a Retail Medical Center (RMC) Essay

During the last two decades the health delivery system has been revolutionized. Many patients no longer visit the traditional medical facility system but choose to visit RMCs to receive limited medical care. The new phenomena are known as RMCs and are a new delivery service for health-care services. As far back as 1995, Newt Gingrich predicted that patients would â€Å"go to Canada or Wal-Mart.† For example, retail medical clinics appear in pharmacies, grocery stores, and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, offering basic health care services. Furthermore, retail stores have joined in the health-care fray in an effort to increase sales in the retail stores either through increased pharmacy sales or as an increased traffic in other areas of the stores. By establishing the medical clinics in retails stores, it allows the patient to experience more efficiency with the delivery of medical services. For example, when I have cold or flu symptoms, I make a quick trip to the ret ail clinic and see the Nurse Practitioner within fifteen minutes rather than spending hour visiting the traditional clinic in the Houston Medical Center. Patients could spend an hour or two in visiting the traditional doctor while a trip to the retail medical clinic could spend as little as fifteen minutes waiting for their appointment. Additionally, during the time that the patient is visiting the retail medical clinic, the one could shop for other items within the store such as groceries or soft goods thus increasing the efficiency of medical visits. In some cases, the retail centers are even providing an electronic device to notify the patient when the medical representative is available to see the patient. Facts: Ready Clinic (â€Å"The Company†) will create a... ...f the anti-kickback statute. First, a requestor may not use a hypothetical situation as the basis of their advisory opinion; therefore, Ready Care must indicate that the coupon practice will be a practice that they seek to put in place. Seeking an advisory opinion should be used judiciously, as the process is quite lengthy and may be very expensive due to the legal costs. The company’s operations could be exposed to more scrutiny by their request for a ruling. Furthermore, a ruling should not be sought where the law is unambiguous. In the case of the coupon, the law does not appear to be ambiguous. Additionally, although the OIG has stated that the fact that an advisory opinion does not qualify for a safe harbor or receive a favorable treatment by the OIG, a negative ruling does not indicate that the anti-kickback statute has been violated. Anti-kickback Implications of a Retail Medical Center (RMC) Essay During the last two decades the health delivery system has been revolutionized. Many patients no longer visit the traditional medical facility system but choose to visit RMCs to receive limited medical care. The new phenomena are known as RMCs and are a new delivery service for health-care services. As far back as 1995, Newt Gingrich predicted that patients would â€Å"go to Canada or Wal-Mart.† For example, retail medical clinics appear in pharmacies, grocery stores, and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, offering basic health care services. Furthermore, retail stores have joined in the health-care fray in an effort to increase sales in the retail stores either through increased pharmacy sales or as an increased traffic in other areas of the stores. By establishing the medical clinics in retails stores, it allows the patient to experience more efficiency with the delivery of medical services. For example, when I have cold or flu symptoms, I make a quick trip to the ret ail clinic and see the Nurse Practitioner within fifteen minutes rather than spending hour visiting the traditional clinic in the Houston Medical Center. Patients could spend an hour or two in visiting the traditional doctor while a trip to the retail medical clinic could spend as little as fifteen minutes waiting for their appointment. Additionally, during the time that the patient is visiting the retail medical clinic, the one could shop for other items within the store such as groceries or soft goods thus increasing the efficiency of medical visits. In some cases, the retail centers are even providing an electronic device to notify the patient when the medical representative is available to see the patient. Facts: Ready Clinic (â€Å"The Company†) will create a... ...f the anti-kickback statute. First, a requestor may not use a hypothetical situation as the basis of their advisory opinion; therefore, Ready Care must indicate that the coupon practice will be a practice that they seek to put in place. Seeking an advisory opinion should be used judiciously, as the process is quite lengthy and may be very expensive due to the legal costs. The company’s operations could be exposed to more scrutiny by their request for a ruling. Furthermore, a ruling should not be sought where the law is unambiguous. In the case of the coupon, the law does not appear to be ambiguous. Additionally, although the OIG has stated that the fact that an advisory opinion does not qualify for a safe harbor or receive a favorable treatment by the OIG, a negative ruling does not indicate that the anti-kickback statute has been violated.