>>>As I read it, no MD's were penalized here. If so, that's insane.
>There should at least have been a clawback of the kickbacks, although I'd have liked to see some jail time.
>
>Not only does it breach the AMA's ethical guidelines, my understanding is that paying these sorts of kickbacks is criminal under US law. The problem presumably is that physicians can argue that they were not influenced by the spending and it may be fearfully difficult to prove otherwise if a hospital needs the equipment and that supplier was a strong contender; whereas payers usually have whistleblowers who provide the required smoking gun.

If the payor says it's a kickback, does what the payee says matter?