IPPS, fee schedule contain new Stark changes

CMS issued a slew of changes to the Stark self-referral law in 2007—including the much anticipated Phase III and proposals in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule—leading some in the physician compensation and recruitment industry to declare 2007 the “year of Stark.”

But those hoping for a break from Stark regulations this year are out of luck. CMS has released several proposals and final rules in this year’s physician fee schedule, as well as in the 2009 final inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) rule.