As regulatory scrutiny of physician-hospital financial arrangements intensifies, governing boards must understand the compliance risks that land organizations in federal crosshairs. Drawing from real-world enforcement actions filed in 2025, this session examines the most common pitfalls in physician compensation arrangements — including failures around fair market value, commercial reasonableness, and the volume or value of referrals standard under the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute.
Registration Pricing
Member: $75
Non-Member: $125
Registration includes unlimited connections per registered facility.
Who should watch:
Hospital and health system board members, trustees of rural and community hospitals, executive leadership teams, chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief legal officers, compliance and risk management professionals, physician practice leaders, human resources and physician recruitment professionals, contract management professionals, governance professionals and board liaisons, and policy makers involved in health care compliance, physician contracting, and organizational oversight.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe key regulatory requirements governing physician-hospital financial relationships, including the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, and related compliance standards.
- Identify common compliance risks in physician compensation arrangements, including issues related to fair market value, commercial reasonableness, referral-based compensation, documentation, and contract management.
- Recognize recent healthcare enforcement trends and their implications for hospitals and health systems, including lessons learned from federal settlements and False Claims Act actions.
- Evaluate the role of governance, oversight, and internal controls in reducing compliance risk associated with physician employment and contracting arrangements.
- Apply best practices for monitoring physician arrangements and maintaining effective compliance programs that support regulatory readiness and organizational accountability.
Continuing Education:
American College of Healthcare Executives
By attending the 2026 Physician/Hospital Compliance Standards Webinar, offered by Texas Healthcare Trustees, participants may earn up to 1.0 ACHE Qualified Education Hours toward initial certification or recertification of the Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) designation.
Certified Healthcare Trustees and Leaders Education
The Texas Healthcare Trustees designates this continuing certified healthcare trustee and leader education activity for up to 1.0 contact hours. For more information about the CHTL program, please contact THT at 512-465-1015.
Speakers
Carol Carden, CPA/ABV, ASA, CFE, Managing Principal of Compensation Valuation, Planning and Design, PYA, Knoxville, TN
Carol Carden is a Principal with PYA, and provides business valuation and related consulting services to a wide variety of business organizations, primarily in the healthcare industry. Ms. Carden’s primary areas of expertise are in finance, valuation, and compliance for healthcare organizations. She has performed appraisals of businesses and securities for a wide variety of purposes such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, management service agreements and other intangible assets. She is also a nationally-recognized speaker and writer on healthcare valuation topics.
In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant, she has also earned the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) credential from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) credential from the American Society of Appraisers and the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. She is the former Chair of the Executive Committee for Forensic and Valuation Services and former Chair of the Business Valuation Committee for the AICPA and currently serves on the Board of the American Health Law Association. She was inducted into the Business Valuation Hall of Fame of the AICPA in 2013 and was named a Top CPA for Valuation and a Best-in-State CPA for Tennessee by Forbes in their inaugural lists in 2025.