Articles and Blogs

NATIONAL 42 women making moves in healthcare leadership 6 big ideas in healthcare innovation 26% of US COVID-19 cases traced to UK variant, CDC director says AHA wants HHS to issue waivers to 340B hospitals All 50 states now have expanded or will expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and up Allscripts CEO... READ MORE

On March 26, 2021, Governor Evers signed Assembly Bill 125 into law as Wisconsin Act 23 (“Act 23”) and significantly updated laws related to the licensure, regulation and the practice of physician assistants (“PAs”) in Wisconsin. The regulatory changes aim to improve access to quality medical services for Wisconsin patients by reducing barriers for... READ MORE

Effective March 23, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) is lifting the most recent 30-day limitation for hospital surveys and allowing State Survey Agencies (“SSAs”) to resume survey activity in accordance with CMS’s Non-Long Term Care Guidance. CMS suspended survey activity for certain non-emergency state survey inspections in March 2020 due... READ MORE

NATIONAL 9 numbers that illustrate Amazon’s expansion into healthcare 9 hospital construction projects worth $1B+ A breakdown of 10 recent CMS actions A year fighting a global pandemic leaves US hospitals in shambles, new report finds Report linked HERE Amazon Care is a big deal – here’s why AstraZeneca says its vaccine was 79%... READ MORE

President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARP”) into law on March 11, 2021. Included in the massive $1.9 trillion relief package was an additional $8.5 billion for rural hospitals and providers. The $8.5 billion creates a new relief fund for certain eligible rural health care providers (“Rural Relief Fund”).... READ MORE

NATIONAL 41 States Settle with AMCA Over 2019 Data Breach Affecting 21M Patients Amazon expanding Amazon Care telemedicine program nationally: 6 details Amazon to soon launch telehealth offering in all 50 states, report says Biden to states: Open vaccine eligibility to all adults by May CMS boosts reimbursement for COVID-19 vaccine administration CMS’ nursing... READ MORE

While the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”) has driven significant change throughout health care, some of the more expansive changes relate specifically to the provision of care through telehealth technology (“Virtual Care”). Given the nature and extent of the PHE flexibilities, use of telehealth has skyrocketed. Medicare beneficiaries used telehealth for 43.5% of their... READ MORE

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (“Appropriations Act”) that Congress passed in late December 2020 contained a number of provisions that will be of benefit to teaching hospitals. This article is Part 3 of our series providing insight into these CMS changes and more recent statutory changes. Part 1, which addresses resident moonlighting and redocumentation requirements,... READ MORE

NATIONAL 5 top states for healthcare, ranked by US News & World Report Amazon’s telehealth arm quietly expands to 21 more states Amazon expanding health centers to 5 states Biden Administration Pauses Key Value-Based Reimbursement Models CMS delays kidney care payment model’s 1st performance year CMS delays start of financial performance year for Kidney... READ MORE

The Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) is requesting comments on the recommendations it has received from the Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area Standards Review Committee for changes to OMB’s 2010 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area standards. Among other changes, one proposal would change nearly 150 areas from urban to rural for purposes of... READ MORE