I believe that kickbacks should be considered an unfair trade practice. Kickbacks are arrangements between providers in which one party refers patients to another through services, goods, or medicines (HG.org, n. d.). Receiving kickbacks interferes with unbiased decisions and can encourage a dishonest work environment. I don’t believe it should be considered a perk because it can cause problems in the work environment and cause strain between employees. In February 2022, two medical doctors were indicted in a $300 million healthcare fraud. According to the indictment, several lab companies paid kickbacks to induce medical professionals to order unnecessary lab tests, which they then billed to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs (United States Department of Justice, 2022). Situations like this cause the public to lose trust in medical professionals, leading to fewer doctor visits. It can also lead to increased program costs and corruption of medical decision-
making. My current job has a list of policies that are in place to prevent kickbacks. One of them is the Stark Law which prohibits a physician from referring patients to an entity for certain designated health services if the physician or
an immediate family member of the physician has a financial relationship with the entity (HCA Healthcare, n.d.). Managing kickbacks as a healthcare leader can be difficult. You must know what could and could not be considered a kickback. You also must be able to say no and speak up when you see something unethical taking place despite the repercussions. I believe this may be difficult for healthcare leaders because sometimes you don’t want to upset others, and if you take the bribe, the party that benefits from it tends to treat you better than others and vice versa. If the healthcare
leader decides to report the kickback, they can be mistreated for exposing the issue. Resources
Department: Legal policy description: Global anti ... - HCA healthcare. (n.d.). https://hcahealthcare.com/util/forms/ethics/policies/legal/LLAC001-a.pdf
HG.org. (n.d.). https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/kickbacks-and-fraud-in-our-health-care-system-
43547
Ten indicted for healthcare kickbacks
. Northern District of Texas | Ten Indicted for Healthcare Kickbacks | United States Department of Justice. (2022). https://www.justice.gov/usao-
ndtx/pr/ten-indicted-healthcare-kickbacks
