Selectica to Host Webinar on Healthcare Contract Management and Stark Law Regulatory Compliance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 22, 2008 --

SAN JOSE, Calif. – September 22, 2008 – Next week, Selectica (NASDAQ: SLTC), a leading provider of contract lifecycle management (CLM) solutions, will sponsor an informational webinar to help HMOs, hospitals, and other healthcare providers address the unique challenges of managing physician agreements and other contracts that relate to Stark Law regulatory compliance. The webinar, “Navigating Healthcare Contracts in Stark-Infested Waters,” is scheduled for Thursday, September 25, at 2:00 p.m. ET and will feature Eric Brown, Vice President & Research Director, who leads a research team dedicated to Technology Product Management and Marketing. Professionals. (see http://www.selectica.com/Campaign/NavigatingHealthcareContracts/tabid/625/Default.aspx)

Enacted in the 1990s, the Stark Law addresses medical billing and physician referrals , specifically targeting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, and is designed to eliminate financial incentives that could lead to abuses. Stark Law prohibits self-referral by physicians to specific designated health services which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid consider areas of high risk for abuse. As a result, HMOs and hospitals need to carefully track the terms in physician agreements and other contracts to make sure they comply with Stark Law. Failure to comply can be extremely costly, both in fines and in unpaid Medicare insurance. In one recent case, Baptist Health South hospitals paid more than $7 million to settle a Stark claim over contract payments to one physician group.

One of the most effective tools to limit exposure to Stark scrutiny is an effective contract lifecycle management system that provides standardized language, controls and visibility into physician agreements and related contracts. In the upcoming webinar, Brown will review the pressures imposed on healthcare providers by Stark compliance and physician agreements particular, and he will review contract structures currently in use. Brown also will review strategies that healthcare providers can adopt to avoid Stark violations, including naming a Chief Compliance Officer, aggregating contracts in a central repository for easy access, and automating the contract review process to eliminate maverick contracts.
Brown also will provide practical approaches to eliminate Stark risk from physician agreements, including strategies to ensure consistent contract language, ways to streamline approvals, and how to identify potential problems quickly, thus eliminating administrative work for both physicians and healthcare providers.
“Stark regulations are one of the biggest regulatory challenge facing HMOs and hospitals today,” said Jason Stern

contract management     selectica     Stark Law