How hospitals handle physician courtesy may be the acid test of whether you have an effective compliance program, not to mention whether you risk kickback prosecution.
Discounts are one of the most immediate issues that arise in a compliance program.
Physician courtesy may or may not be illegal depending on how and why it's done. You can't courtesy the copayment only. Some Medicare copay and deductible waivers are OK if patients are in dire financial need, but you have to resist demands by your star physicians to simply waive copays or deductibles for all their patients. In those cases, courtesy may be a more important issue in the compliance and ethics arena. Experts say hospitals must take a stand one way or the other.