Articles and Blogs

Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued Advisory Opinion No. 22-08 (the “Advisory Opinion”), approving a federally qualified health center’s (“FQHC’s”) provision of “locked” smartphones and chargers to existing patients in order to promote access to telehealth services (the “Arrangement”). Background The FQHC primarily serves low-income individuals,... READ MORE

Effective May 4, 2022, certain foreign nationals who timely filed to renew their Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) will receive an automatic extension of the period of employment authorization up to 540 days beyond the original expiration date. This is an effort by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to temporarily alleviate the current situation... READ MORE

Indiana’s Build-Operate-Transfer Statute For political subdivisions in Indiana considering pursuing a public-private partnership for the development, design and construction of public facilities, build‑operate‑transfer (“BOT”) is rapidly becoming the “go-to” procurement and delivery method. Subject to satisfaction of the procedural requirements set forth in Indiana Code §5-23 et seq. (“BOT Statute”), which governs BOT transactions,... READ MORE

On March 28, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced the resolution of two more complaints under its Right of Access Initiative. This brings the total number of cases to 27 since the initiative was first announced in 2019, with financial liability imposed on covered entities... READ MORE

Our Health Care Real Estate Briefing is your comprehensive summary of weekly health care real estate highlights happening across the nation. Over the last few weeks, the Biden Administration and CMS have released ownership data for skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”). The goal, according to the Administration, is to add transparency to SNF ownership and... READ MORE

NATIONAL About 20K nursing home staff now have vaccine medical exemptions AMA survey: Majority of physicians say telehealth enables more comprehensive quality care CMS’ Brooks-LaSure defends 2023 pay bump for hospitals that groups charge is too small CMS Proposes $1.6B Increase in IPPS Payment Rates for FY23 County Struggles with Income Affect Social Determinants... READ MORE

The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a settlement with a dental practice (“Practice”) which has agreed to pay $62,500 to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, as well as to take corrective action after impermissibly disclosing patient PHI to a political campaign manager... READ MORE

A North Carolina dental practice (“Practice”) has been fined $50,000 following a Notice of Final Determination regarding a violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. In the Notice of Proposed Determination, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) stated that a patient visited the Practice in 2013 and... READ MORE

Our Health Care Real Estate Briefing is your comprehensive summary of weekly health care real estate highlights happening across the nation. Hall Render hosted its Health Care Real Estate Executive Summit last week. Instead of covering headlines from the previous week, we have outlined several trends discussed at the Summit. 1. ASCs. There has been... READ MORE

NATIONAL 21 top management risks in healthcare for 2022 $1B joint venture sets sights on ASCs, medical office buildings 3 hacker gangs targeting hospitals CMS revises surprise-billing arbitration process GAO investigating private equity ownership of nursing homes Healthcare Orgs Struggle With Software Supply Chain Risk Management Policies Healthcare workers warn of the harms of... READ MORE