Paying your marketers--properly.

Home health agencies have more freedom to market their services since the implementation of the prospective payment system. In order to do that, a number of agencies have turned to marketing professionals for help. A common method of compensating marketers in the business world, however, is through payment for referrals--something expressly forbidden by federal statute. Home health agencies need to know what they can and can't do to pay marketers and must train their marketers on the federal anti-kickback regulations to assure their compliance.