Thursday, December 10, 2020 I. What is the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”)? The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”) was enacted by Congress on October 24, 2018 and was a part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (“SUPPORT Act”). EKRA prohibits patient brokers from accepting or paying kickbacks for patient referrals from laboratories, clinics, name="_Hlk56754767">recovery centers, and other clinical treatment facilities. Its purpose was to address to the growing opioid crisis in the United States by prohibiting patient referrals, kickbacks, or other renumeration for drug recovery centers. However, the text of EKRA goes above and beyond the opioid crisis. First and foremost, EKRA prohibits the solicitation or receipt of any renumeration for referring patients to laboratories, clinics, or recovery homes. Second, EKRA amplifies the already-existing statutory law prohibiting kickbacks by applying to not only government health care programs but also to private health care programs. Third, EKRA forces laboratories and certain healthcare entities to reassess their relationship with their sales and marketing personnel.