Laboratories need to review and update many compliance issues at the beginning of each calendar year. Often overlooked is the update to the amount allowed under the Stark non-monetary compensation and medical staff incidental benefits provisions. Non-monetary compensation includes items such as gifts, entertainment, dinners, in-office luncheons etc. — anything but cash or cash equivalents such as gift cards. Medical staff incidental benefits include meals, parking and other items that are used while the physician is on the hospital’s campus. The allowed amount is updated annually to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U) which was +1.7 percent for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2014. The result of the annual update is $392 for non-monetary compensation and less than $33 per occurrence for the medical staff incidentals. Laboratories should have a tool or tracking system to monitor the money spent on non-monetary items they have provided during the calendar year, particularly if they give a lot of gifts or they are a department of the hospital and must share the allowance with other hospital departments. For more information, see the Federal regulations at 42 CFR 411.357. Congressman Eric Paulsen (R–MN) Introduces Medical Device Tax Repeal: A bill titled […]