Physician Contract Glossary · Regulatory & Compliance
Stark Law Safe Harbor
A Stark safe harbor, more precisely an exception, is a defined arrangement that is allowed despite the self-referral prohibition.
Stark works through exceptions: specific, defined arrangements that are permitted even though they involve referrals to entities a physician is connected to. Common ones cover bona fide employment, fair-market-value compensation, and in-office ancillary services. Your compensation structure usually has to fit one of these exceptions to be lawful, which is why fair market value appears throughout physician contracts.
Understand which Stark exception your arrangement relies on. The protection only holds if every element of the exception is met, so the compensation terms in your contract are doing legal work, not just paying you.
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