About the Course
Introduction
This CLE course will guide healthcare counsel on physician compensation arrangements for uniquely experienced and/or highly productive physicians whose compensation plans or amounts are justifiably “outside the box.” The panel will offer perspectives on identifying so called "rockstar" physicians and will examine federal and state legal and regulatory considerations for employing and contracting for the services of these physicians, including Stark Law, fair market value (FMV), and commercial reasonableness considerations. The panel will offer best practices for compensation arrangements in light of the increased potential for legal and regulatory scrutiny.
Description
Certain physicians are renowned locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally for their specialty areas and/or services. These physicians, sometimes known by the colloquial term "rockstars," may be in demand not only for their clinical services but also for their influence and leadership of other physicians, their thought leadership for the profession, their very high productivity metrics, and/or their ability to attract patients, donors, and research dollars.
Appropriate compensation for these physicians' services can pose challenging legal and valuation questions for hospitals, life sciences companies and other healthcare providers that contract for their services. As with other physicians, compensation arrangements with these physicians may need to comply with an exception to the Stark law and/or with the prohibitions in the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as with the various state laws that regulate the type, purpose, process, and amount of compensation that may be permissible.
Since many such physicians are academic physicians who hold appointments at academic medical centers and teaching hospitals that are not-for-profit, tax-exempt, and/or tax-supported, there are sometimes additional legal concerns related to the obligations and restrictions on the payor of the compensation under tax-exemption or public financing laws.
For all these reasons, ensuring that rockstar physicians' compensation arrangements are reasonable and at fair market value is generally imperative. Yet, given the physicians’ unusual qualifications and lack of comparability to other physicians, establishing reasonableness and FMV can be a challenge. For purposes of look-back transactional due diligence, audits or investigations, appropriate documentation can be pivotal.
Listen as our authoritative panel examines the applicable federal and state laws and their impact on FMV and commercial reasonableness considerations. The panel will offer an overview of considerations for issue spotting, and for structuring and documenting so called “rockstar” physician compensation arrangements.
Presented By
Ms. Ferrari is a nationally recognized expert on fair market value and commercial reasonableness, the "Big Three" and their role in regulatory compliance, investigations, and litigation. She has authored over 100 publications and presentations on topics related to physician and healthcare provider compensation, contracting, investigations, and related ethical issues. She is known for her work with rural, academic, public, and clinically integrated, value-based healthcare systems. Ms. Ferrari's focus areas include compensation review for compliance with fraud and abuse laws, tax-exempt regulations, antitrust laws, anti-discrimination laws, and assisting clients in transition to value-based payments, including structuring participation agreements, compensation plans and incentive payments in the context of coordinated care and provider alignment strategies, such as clinically integrated networks, ACOs, gainsharing and "Hospital Quality and Efficiency Programs." Prior to joining Hancock Daniel, she was Principal and GC for a national advisory and healthcare solutions firm and a Partner at a well-known national compensation consulting and advisory firm, where she led the service line focused on CINs, ACOs, and other value-based care structures and worked with clinically integrated network and ACO participants across the U.S.
Mr. Sylla has a decade of experience in helping hospitals and health systems comply with healthcare's fraud and abuse regulatory framework. Specializing in provider compensation arrangements, Mr. Sylla has used that experience to develop compensation plans, investigate and audit provider arrangements, and resolve problematic arrangements with governmental agencies.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
- schedule
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
I. Potential legal and regulatory pitfalls in rockstar physician compensation arrangements: Stark Law, AKS, tax-exemption requirements such as IRC Sec. 501(c)(3) and Sec. 4960, and various state laws
II. FMV and reasonableness as appropriate to comply with legal and regulatory restrictions and avoid pitfalls
III. Contracting and documentation best practices
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- Based on case law and regulatory guidance, what makes a physician a legitimate rockstar?
- What are the potential legal and regulatory pitfalls in compensation arrangements with rockstar physicians, including under the Stark law, Anti-Kickback Statute, tax-exemption requirements and various state laws?
- How do the common legal requirements of FMV and commercial reasonableness apply to rockstar physicians?
- What are best practices for contracting with these physicians?
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