What penalties does the anti-kickback law impose?
A violation of the anti-kickback law is a felony offense that carries criminal fines of up to $25,000 per violation, imprisonment for up to five years and exclusion from government health care programs. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created an alternate sanction. The government may levy a civil fine of up to $50,000 for each violation of the statute and an assessment of three times the amount of the kickback. Previously, the only anti-kickback enforcement tools available to the OIG and DOJ were excluding a physician from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which is a lengthy process, or seeking conviction under the higher burden of proof required for criminal cases. The government likely will use the new “intermediate sanction” authority more aggressively in anti-kickback cases because it will be easier to impose.
