Articles and Blogs

NATIONAL Appeals court strikes down bid from hospitals and clinics to recalculate Medicare outlier payments CMS delays enforcement of key parts of price transparency rule by 6 months CMS proposes double-digit pay cuts for 6 office-based heart procedures CVS mandates full Covid vaccination for some employees Daily COVID-19 cases up 1,042% from 2021 low... READ MORE

Hall Render hosted a webinar on July 29, 2021, Surprise Billing and Price Transparency Update. The following includes a selection of audience questions that our attorneys received during and after the webinar. We revised to avoid duplicate responses and to redact any identifying names/information within these questions and answers. The webinar is available on our website for on-demand viewing. Make sure you are also signed up for our alerts to receive information... READ MORE

On August 3, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova penned a blog post warning merging companies against closing transactions before the FTC has concluded its review. Citing a “tidal wave” of merger filings that has stretched the FTC’s limited resources, the agency will issue form letters alerting merging... READ MORE

NATIONAL 10 numbers that show US hospital staffing strains 30% of US hospitals mandate vaccination for employment American Society of Anesthesiologists condemns AANA name change Amazon, Olive team up to bring cloud automation to 950 hospitals As COVID-19 vaccine mandates grow, so are requests for religious exemptions – USA Today Biden administration invests $19M... READ MORE

Hall Render recently hosted a webinar on July 12, Effectively Navigating the Changing Landscape: COVID-19 Vaccination Strategies for Health Care Employers. The following includes a selection of audience questions that our attorneys received during and after the webinar. We made a few additional modifications to avoid duplicate questions and responses and also decided to... READ MORE

On July 23, 2021, CMS published its proposal for changes to its Medicare Part B payment policies for calendar year 2022, including proposed changes for teaching physician billing. In addition, in the same proposed rule, CMS published a proposal to modify the reporting relating to teaching hospitals under the Open Payments system. This article... READ MORE

On April 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) posted Advisory Opinion No. 21-02 (“Advisory Opinion”), a favorable opinion involving an ambulatory surgery center (“ASC”) joint venture and related safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”). This opinion is significant for many reasons, including: It is... READ MORE

On July 1, 2021, the Departments of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Labor and Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management (collectively, the “Departments”) published a much anticipated interim final rule (“IFR”) implementing certain provisions of the No Surprises Act (the “Act”). While the IFR addresses some key aspects of the Act, it does... READ MORE

NATIONAL Amazon launches AWS for Health: 5 things to know AAMC urges medical schools, teaching hospitals to require COVID-19 vaccination for employees How Amazon, Walmart & 7 others are expanding their telehealth business As 10% physician pay cuts loom, AMA urges Congressional action CMS proposed outpatient payment rule for 2022: 7 things to know... READ MORE

NATIONAL 8 hospitals, health systems that launched innovation centers in 2021 10 most expensive brand name drugs in the US 200,000 patients exposed after hackers tried to wire money from ClearBalance funds Acting FDA commissioner calls for independent investigation into approval of Alzheimer’s drug Amazon’s healthcare data lake now available to providers: 7 things... READ MORE