Articles and Blogs

Hall Render is pleased to announce Diana White has joined the firm in its Indianapolis office. Diana concentrates her practice on compliance counsel and mergers and acquisitions. Working with hospital systems and individual providers, she provides guidance as clients navigate complicated transactions in the health care space, including mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Diana also... READ MORE

As of January 1, 2022, providers and facilities must comply with a number of requirements established by the No Surprises Act (the “Act”). CMS recently published several resource documents, as described below, to provide further clarity surrounding implementation of the Act and help providers and facilities better understand their respective compliance obligations. Background The... READ MORE

This week, a number of organizations issued Year in Review reports on M&A activity and predictions for 2022. Staffing and financial issues facing skilled nursing facilities also made headlines. We have included a summary of a number of the Year in Review articles, along with several stories on the skilled nursing industry. The American Hospital... READ MORE

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the statute of limitations period for retaliation claims under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) begins to run on the date of the alleged retaliatory event, and not the date the plaintiff discovers the retaliatory event. Case Background In 2008, the plaintiff physician joined a Michigan-based... READ MORE

NATIONAL 81% of ICU beds in use nationwide: How each state stacks up 20 hospitals, health systems that provide the most ‘unnecessary’ care: Johns Hopkins 3 Population Health Trends to Watch in 2022 5 states facing highest, lowest weekly nursing home COVID-19 positivity rates Accellion Settles Class-Action Lawsuit for $8.1M Following Data Breach Amazon... READ MORE

Amidst a nationwide nursing and skilled nursing facility staffing crisis, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that additional information regarding nursing home staff numbers will be added to the January 2022 CMS Care Compare website. The staffing data will impact the Five-Star Quality Rating calculations in the middle of 2022. Skilled... READ MORE

Our Health Care Real Estate Briefing is your comprehensive summary of weekly health care real estate highlights currently happening across the nation. The Department of Health and Human Services extended the public health emergency through April 16, 2022. Since the pandemic began, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have lost more than 400,000 jobs. In... READ MORE

On January 13, the Supreme Court handed down a pair of decisions on the CMS vaccine mandate rule and the OSHA vaccine-or-test rule. In short, the Court ruled in this opinion that CMS is not prohibited from implementing its vaccine mandate for Medicare-funded facilities (the Interim Final Rule or “IFR”). In a separate opinion,... READ MORE

NATIONAL Supreme Court blocks Biden Covid vaccine mandate for businesses, allows health-care worker rule 19% of US hospitals critically understaffed, 21% anticipate shortages: Numbers by state 5 states facing the worst nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks CMS going public with facility turnover, weekend staffing data CMS proposed rule seeks to lower Medicare Part D prescription... READ MORE

Recent regulations from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) based on the GME changes in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”) create new funding opportunities for many teaching hospitals. Opportunities are available for hospitals in the following categories: CMS will award 1,000 new FTE cap slots over the next five years. CMS... READ MORE