Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Physicians' Referrals to Health Care Entities With Which They Have Financial Relationships: Partial Delay of Effective Date

This interim final rule with comment period delays for 1 year the effective date of the last sentence of 42 CFR 411.354(d)(1). Section 411.354(d)(1) was promulgated in the final rule entitled "Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Physicians' Referrals to Health Care Entities With Which They Have Financial Relationships," published in the Federal Register on January 4, 2001 (66 FR 856). A 1-year delay in the effective date of the last sentence in Sec. 411.354(d)(1) will give Department officials the opportunity to reconsider the definition of compensation that is "set in advance" as it relates to percentage compensation methodologies in order to avoid unnecessarily disrupting existing contractual arrangements for physician services. Accordingly, the last sentence of Sec. 411.354(d)(1), which would have become effective January 4, 2002, will not become effective until January 6, 2003.