Feds Identify Problems In EHR Lab Order Fee Model That May Violate Kickback Rules

A proposed health information exchange model in which an electronic health record (EHR) vendor would charge a laboratory for transmitting test orders was deemed likely to violate federal anti-kickback statutes by the federal Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The model had been submitted to the OIG for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for an advisory opinion. Under the model reviewed, the EHR vendor requires in-network laboratories to pay an order transmission fee. If physicians order tests from an out-of-network laboratory, however, the physician pays an order transmission fee, instead of the laboratory . . .