The changes require hospitals to disclose to patients whether they are physician-owned and the names of all physician owners, effective June 8.
The changes also require physicians to disclose hospital ownership interests to patients, if they refer a patient to that facility.
Hospitals that fail to comply may face having their agreements with CMS terminated, and physicians who fail to disclose ownership interests could lose hospital medical staff membership.
Read the CMS transmittal implementing physician-ownership requirements (pdf).
