To obtain a more complete depiction of the proportionality of physician investment in specialty hospitals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has created a voluntary Deficit Reduction Act survey instrument that was sent to both specialty and competitor hospitals. In its Final Report to the Congress and Strategic and Implementing Plan released in August 2006, HHS stated that it would require all hospitals to provide information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on a periodic basis concerning their investment and compensation relationships with physicians.
HHS/CMS will initially select 500 hospitals that will be required to report this financial information. In September 2007, CMS will send those hospitals the mandatory Disclosure of Financial Relationships Report; hospital respondents then will have 45 days to submit a completed hard copy of the report to CMS. Read the announcement.
