ACO Compliance Is Spotty as Waiver Rule Is Extended; COs Navigate Other Challenges

Washington, D.C.-based Health Care Group partner, Troy A. Barsky, speaks with Report On Medicare Compliance regarding Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) receiving another year of relief from fraud-and-abuse laws with the recent extension of waivers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General. Barsky, a former director of the CMS Division of Technical Payment Policy, stresses the importance of ACOs needing to comply with the anti-kickback statuses of these waivers. "If they use the waivers, it's an area of compliance they need to pay attention to," Barsky continues, "It can trip you up."