NRS439B.420. Prohibited acts of hospitals and related entities; exceptions; submission of contracts to Director; civil penalty.

      1.  A hospital or related entity shall not establish a rental agreement with a physician or entity that employs physicians that requires any portion of his or her medical practice to be referred to the hospital or related entity.

      2.  The rent required of a physician or entity which employs physicians by a hospital or related entity must not be less than 75 percent of the rent for comparable office space leased to another physician or other lessee in the building, or in a comparable building owned by the hospital or entity.

      3.  A hospital or related entity shall not pay any portion of the rent of a physician or entity which employs physicians within facilities not owned or operated by the hospital or related entity, unless the resulting rent is no lower than the highest rent for which the hospital or related entity rents comparable office space to other physicians.

      4.  A health facility shall not offer any provider of medical care any financial inducement, excluding rental agreements subject to the provisions of subsection 2 or 3, whether in the form of immediate, delayed, direct or indirect payment to induce the referral of a patient or group of patients to the health facility. This subsection does not prohibit bona fide gifts under $100, or reasonable promotional food or entertainment.

      5.  The provisions of subsections 1 to 4, inclusive, do not apply to hospitals in a county whose population is less than 55,000.

      6.  A hospital, if acting as a billing agent for a medical practitioner performing services in the hospital, shall not add any charges to the practitioner’s bill for services other than a charge related to the cost of processing the billing.

      7.  A hospital or related entity shall not offer any financial inducement to an officer, employee or agent of an insurer, a person acting as an insurer or self-insurer or a related entity. A person shall not accept such offers. This subsection does not prohibit bona fide gifts of under $100 in value, or reasonable promotional food or entertainment.

      8.  A hospital or related entity shall not sell goods or services to a physician unless the costs for such goods and services are at least equal to the cost for which the hospital or related entity pays for the goods and services.

      9.  Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a practitioner or health facility shall not refer a patient to a health facility or service in which the referring party has a financial interest unless the referring party first discloses the interest to the patient. This subsection does not apply to practitioners subject to the provisions of NRS 439B.425.

      10.  The Director may, at reasonable intervals, require a hospital or related entity or other party to an agreement to submit copies of operative contracts subject to the provisions of this section after notification by registered mail. The contracts must be submitted within 30 days after receipt of the notice. Contracts submitted pursuant to this subsection are confidential, except pursuant to the provisions of NRS 239.0115 and in cases in which an action is brought pursuant to subsection 11.

      11.  A person who willfully violates any provision of this section is liable to the State of Nevada for:

      (a) A civil penalty in an amount of not more than $5,000 per occurrence, or 100 percent of the value of the illegal transaction, whichever is greater.

      (b) Any reasonable expenses incurred by the State in enforcing this section.

Ê Any money recovered pursuant to this subsection as a civil penalty must be deposited in a separate account in the State General Fund and used for projects intended to benefit the residents of this State with regard to health care. Money in the account may only be withdrawn by act of the Legislature.

      12.  As used in this section, “related entity” means an affiliated person or subsidiary as those terms are defined in NRS 439B.430.

      (Added to NRS by 1987, 870; A 1989, 1925; 1993, 2595; 2001, 1988; 2007, 2107; 2011, 1257)