Articles and Blogs

On January 25, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) formally published its Omnibus Final Rule (“Final Rule”), which includes modifications to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). Because the Final Rule covers a... READ MORE

Executive Summary In Vincent v. Quality Addiction Management, Inc., No. 2:11-cv-205 (E.D. Wis. January 14, 2013), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin narrowly construed Wisconsin’s physician-patient privilege to partially grant a motion to compel defendant Quality Addiction Management, Inc. (“QAM”) to disclose the medical records of the co-defendant (“Madison”)... READ MORE

Three NLRB Members Not Valid Recess Appointments As we predicted last year, President Obama’s three recess appointments to the NLRB faced a significant constitutional legal challenge.  On January 25, 2012, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in a unanimous opinion ruled that the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB in... READ MORE

House Passes Bill to Suspend Debt Ceiling On January 23, the House passed a bill that would suspend the debt ceiling and allow the federal government to keep borrowing money until May 17. Both the Senate and the White House have indicated they will not block the House-passed measure. Notably, the bill (H.R. 325) requires... READ MORE

Executive Summary The recently passed American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“Act”) contains a provision that extends the recovery period for the collection of certain Medicare overpayments. Specifically, Section 638 of the Act amends Section 1870 of the Social Security Act (“SSA”) to extend the recovery period for “without fault” overpayments from three years to... READ MORE

A recent Court of Appeals of Indiana decision limits future defendants from using Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act’s statute of limitations to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims. If a plaintiff sends her complaint to the Indiana Department of Insurance within the two-year statute of limitations, but fails to provide the fee until after the two-year window has... READ MORE

A recent federal court opinioncourt opinion highlights the need for employers to evaluate employee requests for reasonable accommodation on an individualized basis – even where, at first glance, an effective accommodation may not be readily apparent.  The ADA is, after all, intended to overcome employment decisions based on stereotypes. A Deaf Applicant Seeks a Lifeguard... READ MORE

The U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated the possibility of a provider trying to claim additional Medicare cost report reimbursement under the legal theory of equitable tolling in its opinion published today: Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center (“Auburn”).  The result of this opinion places even more importance on ensuring providers adhere to the statutorily... READ MORE

The FMLA requires employers with 50 or more employees to grant up to 12 weeks of leave for, among other things, time off that is needed to care for an adult son or daughter over the age of 18 who is “incapable of self-care because of a disability.”  Ever since the Americans with Disabilities... READ MORE

Over the past three years, we have reported on how the NLRB has focused on numerous employer policies and practices that it found to be unlawfully overbroad. The NLRB reasoned that the overbroad policies could lead an employee to reasonably conclude that the employer’s policy or practice interfered with the employee’s protected right to... READ MORE