The Lawmakers Introduced the Stark Law (Coursework Sample)

The Lawmakers Introduced the Stark Law
HACs often arise as a result of a physician making a deliberate choice to subject the patient to a controllable condition so that they can refer the patient to another healthcare institution where they will have a financial benefit. Unfortunately, such a practice is driven by the desire to live within the expectations of the kind of lifestyle expected of the healthcare providers (Swiderski et al., 2021). Society happens to regard healthcare providers in high esteem such that they would desire to meet such expectations (Swiderski et al., 2021). Unfortunately, healthcare providers have been disregarded in the past because they would want to generate extra income other than the money they earn from the leading practice in their workplace (Cain et al., 2020). In such an instance, loyalty is divided between providing the required healthcare and meeting their personal needs.
The challenge with this kind of scenario is that healthcare providers tend to prioritize their personal needs rather than the need to protect the lives of their patients. It is more related to commercializing healthcare and completely disregarding their immediate employer (Swiderski et al., 2021). That is why we find patients becoming subjects to HACs, and subsequently getting referred to other hospitals where the referring doctor will gain financially (Cain et al., 2020). While this is an unethical practice in healthcare, it is essential to note that it is driven not only by the healthcare providers' desire to generate more income but also by the fact that we need to ensure that they are well remunerated to sustain the expectations that the society has on them.
Having observed such challenges, the lawmakers introduced the Stark Law in 1989 to help regulate physicians' practice. Named after Rep. Pete Stark, this law aimed to curb physician self-referral. Initially, the law sought to ban physicians from making patient referrals to certain hospitals where the patient would receive treatment under the federal government's Medicare or payment by any other government (Kanter & Pauly, 2019). Self-referral refers to a situation where a physician refers a patient to a designated hospital or a healthcare institution where the physician or an immediate family member will gain financial benefits from the referral (Cain et al., 2020). The law was geared toward barring the financial motivation in healthcare provision from referring patients to other healthcare institutions, whether through HACs guided by the healthcare provider or malicious activities.
In our healthcare institution, we realize the need to ensure that every patient who visits the institution is not subjected to HACs, for the individual benefit of the healthcare provider. All healthcare providers must ensure that every patient is provided with the most appropriate type of care that does not rely on having to refer the patient to another healthcare institution (Swiderski et al., 2021). However, considering the nature of humanity, we all seek to have our lives better, which means that we need to find a way to make a way that ensures that our physicians do not violate this rule. In other words, it means that we should find ways of making it possible for patients to acquire the best form of medication without having opportunities for physicians to monetize the process of healthcare acquisition.
To make this possible, our institution has ensured that all medical practitioners hired are well remunerated to avoid the possibility of them being enticed by other healthcare institutions for additional income. Such an endeavor is the only way to ensure that patient health and care are maintained high (Kanter & Pauly, 2019). We have observed that most physicians who violate the Stark law are driven by the desire to lead a life that matches their profession. It means they desire sufficient income that allows them to lead a lifestyle society requires them to live. Society tends to be brutal when it comes to expectations (Swiderski et al., 2021). Medical practitioners are the most highly rated persons in the world, meaning they have to be sufficiently remunerated to avoid instances where the institution falls prey to violations of the Stark law.