Some leaders feel that Stark law and anti-kickback statutes, once intended to safeguard Medicare dollars, are now having an unintended effect: pushing active physicians out of healthcare leadership. But if you dig deeply, you will find that these seated members are almost always retired from clinical practice and have no current or recent clinical practice affiliations). By avoiding any seated board members with active clinical practices or affiliations, these healthcare entities believe that they encounter less risk of running afoul of Stark law or anti-kickback regulations in their management decisions. (In reality, many actions that, in clinical practice, have been declared Stark or kickback violations, are common, normal and legal practice in other forms of business enterprise.) But, Stark laws and anti-kickback statutes were written in a bygone era when physicians ran (and frequently owned) hospitals, clinics and other healthcare enterprises.