The Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly referred to as the Stark law (42 U.S.C. § 1395nn), is one of several federal fraud and abuse laws. We have previously written about the federal anti-kickback statute (“AKS”) (click here to review). While the two laws may seem similar at first, they have very different rules and penalties. The
Last week, I came across an article surveying the 50 (!) psychedelics companies that are now publicly traded on U.S. exchanges— a handful of which we are proud to call our clients. Of these, 41 are listed on over the counter (OTC) markets, while the remaining nine outfits are traded on either the Nasdaq or
As the economy continues to flourish, there is a proliferation of merger and acquisition activity in the healthcare space. We continue to see a rise in ketamine clinic acquisitions as well as investors who are starting management services organizations (“MSO”) to assist such clinics with their administrative burden. Likewise, we have seen an increase in
In a continuing trend across the country whereby cities are taking steps to decriminalize the possession of certain amounts of all kinds of psychedelics, Seattle joined the herd this week by voting to formalize the non-prosecution of the possession of certain entheogens, commonly known as psychedelics. We were especially gratified to see the results of
It’s been a while since I provided an update on the state of California psychedelics law, but there have been a few important updates in the last few weeks, so it’s now that time. Before jumping in, I’ll remind readers that currently, all psychedelics are illegal under federal law unless a person has received an
Many ketamine clinics enter into management agreements with management services organizations (“MSO”). The MSO provides a litany of services to the professional entities (“PE”) that are owned by healthcare providers, including billing and collections, financial and accounting services, providing space to the clinic through a lease, strategic planning, marketing, and many other types of management
On March 18, Governor Kate Brown appointed members to the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board, which held its first meeting on March 31. Since then, the Board has met monthly and created five subcommittees to study facets of the emerging psilocybin industry including research, equity, manufacturing, training, and licensing. I chair the Licensing Subcommittee, which focuses
The corporate practice of medicine doctrine (“CPOM”) and state anti-kickback prohibitions vary from state to state. While some states have statutory prohibitions, other states rely upon case law for CPOM. These issues are typically not heavily litigated. When there is case law covering these subjects, it is imperative to review and understand these decisions. They
In a prior post, we discussed the federal anti-kickback statute (the “AKS”) and the implications for ketamine clinics. In short, the federal AKS prohibits anyone from paying or receiving anything of value for the referral of patients where a federal government healthcare payment program is the payor (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, VA, etc.). 42 U.S.C. §
We’ve been writing about psychedelics on this blog now for three years. I believe the first article I wrote covered Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Compass Pathway’s drug trial for COMP360, a psilocybin formulation that eventually was patented. Since that time, a LOT has happened in the space, and we have seen all
