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In the final 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which is set to be published in the Federal Register on December 9, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) included substantive changes to the regulations governing when a provider must report and return a Medicare overpayment in order to avoid liability under the False Claims

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued an unfavorable advisory opinion (the “Opinion”) last Friday in which it refused to bless a proposed arrangement involving an intraoperative neuromonitoring (“IONM”) company (the “Requestor”) and various surgeons who perform procedures for which IONM is used, desiring to form a physician-owned entity (“Newco”) that would arrange to provide both the technical and professional components of IONM services (the “Proposed Arrangement”).

The Proposed Arrangement would essentially create a “turn-key” entity owned by the surgeons (the “Surgeon Owners”) that would subcontract to the Requestor and its affiliated physician practice (the “Practice”) “virtually all of the day-to-day requirements of an IONM business.” The Surgeon Owners would be responsible for forming Newco, preparing Newco’s internal governance documents, and determining the methodology for distribution of Newco’s profits amongst themselves. However, the Surgeon Owners would be passive investors, with limited involvement in Newco’s day-to-day operations.Continue Reading OIG Issues Unfavorable Advisory Opinion, Upholding Longstanding Contractual Joint Venture Concerns