Written by: Neda Mirafzali, Esq Kathryn Hickner-Cruz, EsqThe Health Law Partners, P.C., Southfield, MISince the passage of the Affordable Care Act1 and the establishment of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (the “Shared Savings Program”), ACOs have become the new hot topic.Section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act provides that Medicare shall establish the Shared Savings Program and that healthcare providers and suppliers will participate in the Shared Savings Program through ACOs. According to CMS, “ACOs create incentives for healthcare providers to work together to treat an individual patient across care settings – including doctor’s offices, hospitals, and long-term care facilities. The Shared Savings Program will reward ACOs that lower growth in healthcare costs while meeting performance standards on quality of care and putting patients first.”2 If an ACO saves money by providing patients with efficient care, then the ACOs can share in a percentage of the savings with Medicare. However, should an ACO fail...

??When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton responded, “Because that’s where the money is.”Ambulatory surgery center (“ASC”) owners, often surgeons, seek to obtain a share of anesthesia fees for the same reason. But instead of a gun, many are turning to a new model of money extraction, the so-called “company model.”The abrupt bank robber approach to demanding a kickback is clearly illegal: “Bob, if you want to provide anesthesia at Greenacres ASC, you’ve got to pay us thirty cents on the referred dollar”.Although there are far more ASC owners willing to take the bank robber approach than the industry likely will admit, some ASCs are choosing a slightly softer approach — forcing the anesthesiologists working independently at the ASC to instead work for an ASC affiliated entity that distributes a share of the anesthesia fees back to the ASC owners.“Bob, if you want to provide anesthesia at Greenacres ASC, you’ve...