Just as important as knowing the particular regulatory definitions that govern sales and compensation arrangements in the healthcare sector—such as “remuneration,” “financial relationship,” and “recommendation”—valuation analysts should get to know their particular client, said Matthew Jenkins and James Pinna in their session last week on The Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute, Part 2 of our ongoing 2013 Online Symposium on Healthcare Valuation. Before performing a risk assessment for transactions or compensation arrangements, the healthcare analyst should ask the following questions about the subject company:

• Does it have competent lawyers who are familiar with the applicable law?
• Does it have a history of “valuator shopping” and, if so, why?
• Did other valuators decline to provide opinions because the transaction was “troubled”?

“Be careful about clients wanting a favorable opinion for arrangements that, by objective standards, are too good to be true,” the speakers cautioned. For a straightforward take on the OIG’s reading of the definitions and the law, healthcare valuators can also check out its website.