Physician & Clinician Partnership Briefing (Engagement Without Referral Incentives)
A briefing for physicians and care teams on how to appropriately participate in grateful-patient philanthropy while staying rigorously inside legal boundaries — deliverable as a 30-minute in-service.
Draft: pending review
This starter document is signed off by Foundation counsel + compliance (Stark/AKS) + CMO/physician champion + CFRE before it ships. The guardrails below define that review.
What’s inside
- What a clinician may do (listen, refer to the foundation) vs. may not (solicit a dollar amount at the bedside)
- Bright-line timing rules: never during active, frightening, or acute treatment
- What clinicians receive (recognition, unit support) and never receive (per-referral compensation)
- One-page 'boundaries card' summary for badge or workstation
Legal & ethical guardrails
The sector-specific compliance points this document must honor.
- The bedside exposure is the Anti-Kickback Statute (42 USC 1320a-7b(b) — intent-based, criminal) and beneficiary-inducement/CMP, NOT Stark (which governs physician self-referral of designated health services under Medicare/Medicaid). Recognition must be non-monetary and never correlated to referral volume; 'anything of value' is broad
- Clinicians must not create the appearance that care quality or access is tied to giving (EMTALA-adjacent concern)
- Clinicians may not disclose PHI to development beyond the HIPAA-permissible pathway
- Solicitation must never occur during acute distress or diminished capacity
Held for professional review.
The native DOCX and full working text ship only after sign-off by Foundation counsel + compliance (Stark/AKS) + CMO/physician champion + CFRE on this exact version. The summary and review requirements remain visible in the meantime.
Not legal advice. Not legal, tax, or accounting advice. The Fundraising Co. provides educational fundraising materials and is not a law firm; nothing here creates an attorney–client relationship or substitutes for advice from professionals licensed in your jurisdiction. Laws and IRS rules vary by state and change over time. Review every document with qualified counsel before use.