Are there limits to incentives and bonuses that can be offered?

You need to be aware of legal and regulatory limits that govern incentive and bonus plans. For example, with respect to Medicare and Medicaid patients, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits remuneration "directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind to any person to induce such person to refer an individual." Similarly, the Stark self-referral laws prohibit physicians from making referrals for designated health services to any entity with which they have a financial relationship. So, for example, a productivity formula that incentivizes the volume of patient procedures or referrals may violate anti-kickback or physician self-referral laws (unless the formulas meet one of the myriad exceptions in these laws.)