Final answer:
Violations of the Stark Law in the options provided include "D - Referring patients to facilities where the provider has a financial interest" and "E - Billing for services not rendered," which are directly related to prohibiting physician self-referral and financial misuse within the Medicare and Medicaid services.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Stark Law specifically addresses the issue of self-referral by physicians and prohibits doctors from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients to an entity with which the physician or an immediate family member has a financial relationship unless an exception applies. Based on the provided options, the correct responses to the question of which actions are violations of the Stark Law are:
- D - Referring patients to facilities where the provider has a financial interest. This is one of the principal violations that the Stark Law intends to prevent, as it could lead to a conflict of interest where the physician's financial gains are at odds with the patient's best interests.
- E - Billing for services not rendered. While this might not be directly related to referral prohibitions, if it involves the misuse of referrals for financial gain, it could be connected to Stark Law violations, especially in conjunction with other unlawful activities.
Other options, such as upcoding, negligent handling of protected health information, and accepting gifts in lieu of payment, may violate different laws or ethical guidelines, but they are not specific to the Stark Law, which is centered around healthcare self-referrals.