Payment by or to a physician or health care institution solely for referral of a patient is fee splitting and is unethical.
Physicians may not accept:
- Any payment of any kind, from any source for referring a patient other than distributions of a health care organization’s revenues as permitted by law.
- Any payment of any kind, from any source for prescribing a specific drug, product, or service.
- Payment for services relating to the care of a patient from any health care facility/organization to which the physician has referred the patient.
- Payment referring a patient to a research study.
Physicians in a capitated primary care practice may not refer patients based on whether the referring physician has negotiated a discount for specialty services.
AMA Principles of Medical Ethics: II
Read the Principles
Council Reports
- PDF Fee Splitting