• Diagnosis or the provision of medically necessary treatment of COVID-19 for any patient or individual, whether or not the patient or individual is diagnosed with a confirmed case of COVID-19;

• Securing the services of physicians and other health care practitioners and professionals to furnish medically necessary patient care services, including services not related to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, in response to the COVID-19 emergency;

• Ensuring the ability of health care providers to address patient and community needs in response to the COVID-19 emergency;

• Expanding the capacity of health care providers to address patient and community needs due to the COVID-19 emergency;

• Shifting the diagnosis and care of patients to appropriate alternative settings due to the COVID-19 emergency; or

• Addressing medical practice or business interruption due to the COVID-19 emergency to maintain the availability of medical care and related services for patients and the community.

• Remuneration above or below the fair market value (“FMV”) paid by an entity to a physician for services personally performed by the physician;

• Rental charges below FMV paid by an entity to a physician for the entity’s lease of office space from the physician;

• Rental charges below FMV paid by an entity to a physician for the entity’s lease of equipment from the physician;

• Remuneration below FMV from an entity to a physician for items or services purchased by the entity from the physician;

• Rental charges below FMV paid by a physician to an entity for the physician’s lease of office space from the entity;

• Rental charges below FMV paid by a physician to an entity that are below FMV for the physician’s lease of equipment from the entity;

• Remuneration from a physician to an entity that is below FMV for the use of the entity’s premises or for items or services purchased by the physician from the entity;

• Remuneration from an entity to a physician resulting from a loan to the entity: (a) with an interest rate below FMV; or (b) on terms that are unavailable from a lender that is not a recipient of the physician’s referrals or business generated by the physician;

• Remuneration from a physician to an entity resulting from a loan to the entity: (a) with an interest rate below FMV; or (b) on terms that are unavailable from a lender that is not in a position to generate business for the physician;

• Remuneration from a hospital to a physician in the form of medical staff incidental benefits that exceeds the limit set forth in Federal regulations, which is $36 per occurrence for 2020;

• Remuneration from an entity to a physician in the form of nonmonetary compensation that exceeds the limit set forth in Federal regulations, which is $423 per calendar year for 2020;

• Referrals by a physician to an entity with whom the physician has a compensation arrangement that does not satisfy the writing or signature requirement(s) of an applicable exception but satisfies each other requirement of the applicable exception, unless such requirement is waived under one or more of the blanket waivers;

• The referral by a physician in a group practice for medically necessary DHS furnished by the group practice in a location that does not qualify as a “same building” or “centralized building” for purposes of the in-office ancillary services exception to the Stark Law;

• The referral by a physician in a group practice for medically necessary DHS furnished by the group practice to a patient in his or her private home, an assisted living facility, or independent living facility where the referring physician’s principal medical practice does not consist of treating patients in their private homes;

• The referral by a physician owner of a hospital that temporarily expands its facility capacity above the number of operating rooms, procedure rooms, and beds for which the hospital was licensed on March 23, 2010 (or, in the case of a hospital that did not have a provider agreement in effect as of March 23, 2010, but did have a provider agreement in effect on December 31, 2010, the effective date of such provider agreement) without prior application and approval of the expansion of facility capacity as required under the Stark Law;

• Referrals by a physician owner of a hospital that converted from a physician-owned ambulatory surgical center to a hospital on or after March 1, 2020, provided that: (a) the hospital does not satisfy one or more of the requirements of the referenced Stark Law section; (b) the hospital enrolled in Medicare as a hospital during the period of the public health emergency described; (c) the hospital meets the Medicare conditions of participation and other requirements not waived by CMS during the period of the public health emergency; and (d) the hospital’s Medicare enrollment is not inconsistent with the Emergency Preparedness or Pandemic Plan of the State in which it is located;

• The referral by a physician of a Medicare beneficiary for the provision of DHS to a home health agency: (a) that does not qualify as a rural provider; and (b) in which the physician has an ownership or investment interest; and

• The referral by a physician to an entity with which the physician’s immediate family member has a financial relationship if the patient who is referred resides in a rural area.

• A hospital pays physicians above their previously-contracted rate for furnishing professional services for COVID-19 patients in particularly hazardous or challenging environments.

• To accommodate patient surge, a hospital rents office space and/or equipment from an independent physician practice at below FMV or at no charge.

• An entity provides free telehealth equipment to a physician practice to facilitate telehealth visits for patients who are observing social distancing or in isolation or quarantine.

• A hospital provides meals, comfort items (for example, a change of clothing), or onsite child care with a value greater than $36 per instance to medical staff physicians who spend long hours at the hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak.

• With state approval (if required), a physician-owned hospital temporarily converts observation beds to inpatient beds or otherwise increases its inpatient bed count to accommodate patient surge during the COVID-19 outbreak.

• A physician in a group practice whose principal medical practice is office-based orders radiology services that are furnished by the group practice to a Medicare beneficiary who is isolated or observing social distancing in the beneficiary’s home, provided that the group practice satisfies all of the requirements of the Stark Law’s definition of “group practice.”