THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 12 | MARCH 2026 Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. Forgetting to include the correct esoteric contract clause in the correct esoteric contract20 And so many others When dealing with any issue that might have regulatory health care implications, sometimes it’s best to phone an expert to seek guidance – because what you don’t know may hurt you. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Cori Loomis is a health care attorney with McAfee & Taft who draws upon her extensive experience working in both private practice and public service to represent and counsel providers on a broad range of transactional, operational, legislative, administrative and regulatory compliance matters. In addition to working in private practice for more than 20 years, she previously served as the compliance officer and HIPAA privacy official for OU and as general counsel for the Oklahoma State Medical Association. Luke Moyer is a health care lawyer with McAfee & Taft whose practice encompasses the areas of health care transactions, day-to-day business consulting, federal and state administrative and regulatory compliance and HIPAA and health privacy matters. He is a certified information privacy professional/United States (CIPP/US), with extensive experience advising health care providers on emerging areas of privacy and security risk. He received his undergraduate degree from OSU and his J.D. from the TU College of Law. ENDNOTES 1. 42 U.S.C. §1320a-7b(b). 2. Press Release, U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Michigan Woman Convicted of $1.4M Health Care Kickback Scheme,” (Nov. 22, 2024), https://bit.ly/4t5HxDN. 3. U.S. Dep’t of Just., Criminal Div., Health Care Fraud Unit, https://bit.ly/4rfVbCI (last visited Oct. 7, 2025). 4. 42 U.S.C. §1320a-7b(g). 5. 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart E. 6. 45 C.F.R. §160.103. 7. 45 C.F.R. §164.508. 8. 45 C.F.R. §164.506(b)(2). 9. 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart D. 10. (42 USC 1390a‐7b(b)). Violations may result in a five-year prison term, $25,000 criminal penalty, $50,000 administrative penalty, treble damages and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid (Id.; 42 CFR 1003.102). The Affordable Care Act also made an AKS violation an automatic violation of the False Claims Act, which may result in additional penalties of $5,500 to $11,000 per claim submitted and repayment of amounts improperly received (42 USC 1320a‐7a(a)(7); 42 CFR 1003.102). 11. https://bit.ly/4t70PbX. 12. (42 USC 1320a‐7a(i)). The AKS also contains an exception for cost‐sharing waivers for inpatient hospital services if certain conditions are satisfied (see 42 USC 1001.925(k)). 13. https://bit.ly/4rfVtJO. 14. See, e.g., 42 C.F.R. §411.357 (listing exceptions to the so-called Stark Law, many of which require contracts to be “signed by the parties”). 15. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., Office of Inspector Gen., Exclusions Database, https://exclusions.oig.hhs.gov (last visited Oct. 10, 2025). 16. U.S. Gen. Servs. Admin., System for Award Management (SAM), Exclusions Search, https://sam.gov/search/?index=ex (last visited Oct. 10, 2025). 17. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., Health Res. & Servs. Admin., Nat’l Practitioner Data Bank, Continuous Query, www.npdb.hrsa.gov/hcorg/pds.jsp (last visited Oct. 10, 2025). 18. Okla. State Bd. of Med. Licensure & Supervision, Licensee Search, www.okmedicalboard.org/search (last visited Oct. 10, 2025). 19. Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid Servs., Open Payments, https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov (last visited Oct. 10, 2025). 20. See, e.g., 42 C.F.R. 420.302 (establishing a “[r]equirement for access clause in [certain health care] contracts”); 45 C.F.R. §164.504(e) (establishing requirements for “[b]usiness associate contracts”).
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