Articles and Blogs

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Says Ban Is Lawful An Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) has put at least a temporary stop to what many have seen as a trend to expand employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.  The NLRB General Counsel’s complaint filed against an employer, who maintained a policy prohibiting the recording... READ MORE

The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) remains concerned with potential prescription drug abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately seven million people in the U.S. misused prescription drugs in 20101 and has characterized prescription drug abuse as an epidemic. Due to concerns of prescription drug abuse... READ MORE

Background The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently issued two advisory opinions regarding arrangements where for-profit clinical laboratories would provide certain devices without charge to physicians, including physicians that made referrals to the entities.1 These advisory opinions were the first issued by CMS in over two years. Though the arrangements discussed in... READ MORE

Shareholder Steve Pratt was recently re-elected Chairman of the Board of the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana. Pratt previously served as Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2013. The Dyslexia Institute of Indiana exists to serve children, adolescents and adults with specific language disabilities. For almost a quarter of a century, the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana... READ MORE

This month, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced it is redefining the 2014 certification criteria for Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (“CEHRT”) for the Meaningful Use Incentive Program. The previous 2011 CEHRT criteria required that eligible providers have complete CEHRT capable of meeting all certification criteria for an inpatient or ambulatory... READ MORE

OMB Reviewing Final Rules on Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law Protections for EHR Deals Earlier this week, CMS and HHS sent two final rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) that would extend safe harbor protections for arrangements that provide electronic health record (“EHR”) products to physicians until the end of... READ MORE

On October 30, two Medicare Administrative Contractors, Palmetto GBA and CGS, announced their intent to focus on certain hospice claims for patients located in Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”). Palmetto GBA announced that it has identified top providers with a large number of beneficiaries receiving hospice services in SNFs, and it intends to initiate a... READ MORE

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) is warning consumers about a telephone scam that targets taxpayers, and specifically immigrants, throughout the country.  During the scam phone call, victims are threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license if they do not promptly pay money allegedly owed to the IRS through a... READ MORE

As part of the 2014 inpatient prospective payment system final rule, CMS formulated a “2-midnight presumption” and a “2-midnight benchmark” (collectively the “2-Midnight Rule”) to guide admitting practitioners and review contractors on when it is appropriate to admit a patient as a hospital inpatient.  In the last few days, CMS posted a series of... READ MORE

Hall Render was named in U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® 2014 “Best Law Firms” rankings. The firm received metropolitan first-tier rankings in health care law in Indianapolis and Milwaukee and metropolitan first-tier rankings in construction law and litigation-construction in Louisville. Ranked firms, presented in tiers, are listed on a national and/or... READ MORE