The Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) is an American

federal law Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many po ...

prohibiting financial payments or incentives for referring patients or generating federal healthcare business. The law, codified at 42 U.S. Code § 1320a–7b(b), imposes criminal and, particularly in association with the federal

False Claims Act The False Claims Act (FCA), also called the "Lincoln Law", is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. It is the federal government's primary litigat ...

, civil liability on those that knowingly and willfully offer, solicit, receive, or pay any form of remuneration in exchange for the referral of services or products covered by any federal healthcare program (e.g., the referral of a Medicare patient for an MRI), subject to certain narrow exceptions. In other words, the statute covers both those that provide (or offer) kickbacks and those that receive (or solicit) kickbacks. The statute is among the most important healthcare fraud and abuse laws in the United States. Violation of the AKS is a felony. The AKS was "enacted to ensure that clinical decisions and medical services are provided to patients based on their medical needs and not on the improper financial considerations of providers." The illegal remuneration covered by the AKS includes "anything of value" and is therefore not limited to cash. Thus, the sorts remuneration barred by the AKS may be, for example, in the form of consulting fees, gifts (e.g., sports tickets), discounted rent, research grants, and bonuses. The AKS is a separate law from the

Stark Law Stark Law is a set of United States federal laws that prohibit physician self-referral, specifically a referral by a physician of a Medicare or Medicaid patient to an entity for the provision of designated health services ("DHS") if the physici ...

; however, the AKS may, in many instances, cover conduct within the scope of the

(and vice versa). A claim made to the federal government (e.g., a claim to Medicare for a patient visit) that results from a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute is, by its by nature, a "false claim" under the

and thus may result in liability under the False Claims Act (including the False Claims Act's treble damages and civil monetary penalty provisions). Given this interplay between the AKS and the

, violations of the AKS have formed the basis of a great number of high value civil recoveries in favor of the federal government (and whistleblowers) under the

References

{{Reflist United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes United States federal legislation