Foley & Lardner LLP Partner Nathaniel Lacktman is quoted in the Inside Health Policy article, “Experts: Stakeholders Need to Understand Nuances of Telefraud, Telehealth,” about how lawmakers and providers need to be informed as they work towards future permanent telehealth regulations for the rapidly growing telehealth industry.
Lacktman, a telehealth lawyer at Foley, said of the Special Fraud Alert on telemedicine recently released by the HHS Office of the Inspector General that telemedicine companies should look at the characteristics and assess whether their business arrangements and patient service models reflect any of the cited hallmarks.
“If so, it does not mean it’s fraudulent, but it does mean that it warrants additional attention to ensure that the company can continue to deliver services without being perceived as problematic or fraudulent,” Lacktman said.
Lacktman added that telemedicine start-ups or cash-only companies are most likely to have compliance issues. In order to maintain compliance with regulations, he recommends that companies implement safe harbor marketing agreements and objective compliance programs to help protect against fraud charges.
As telemedicine continues to expand, Lacktman predicts OIG will continue to increase the monitoring of telemedicine companies.
