Articles and Blogs

Under the federal Stark Law, hospitals may provide non-monetary compensation to physicians up to an aggregate amount of $416 for calendar year 2019. The dollar limit for “medical staff incidental benefits” (e.g., meals, parking and other items or incidental services that are used on the hospital’s campus) is less than $35 per occurrence. Other... READ MORE

Congress Tackles Multiple Health Provisions This Week The standstill on progress over finalizing the remaining fiscal year 2019 spending bills has given Congress the opportunity to advance some outstanding health care measures. This week, the House of Representatives passed legislation including the ACE Kids Act to allow state Medicaid programs to use a home... READ MORE

On December 11, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced that a critical access hospital in Colorado (the “Hospital”) will settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) by paying a civil penalty of $111,400 and adopting a corrective action... READ MORE

NATIONAL US health care spending hits $3.5 trillion in 2017, but rate of growth slows CMS finalizes risk adjustment rule for benefit year 2018 4 health systems raising their minimum wage Demand for both physicians and nurse practitioners driving up compensation, study finds Report predicts shortage of nearly 30,000 doctors in geriatrics American Hospital... READ MORE

A number of organizations, including many health care and financial organizations, nationwide have reported receiving emails that state that an explosive device has been brought into the recipient’s facility and will be detonated unless a ransom is paid in Bitcoin. Law enforcement authorities are investigating; however, at this point, no explosive devices have been... READ MORE

Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) released an opinion that confirmed a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) assessment of an immediate jeopardy citation and an $83,800 civil money penalty against a nursing home for inadequately addressing sexual interactions between cognitively impaired nursing home... READ MORE

On November 29, 2018, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced some significant changes to the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ’s”) policies on investigating corporate wrongdoing. These changes pull back some of the guidance that was first announced in a public memorandum issued by former Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates (“Yates Memo”) in 2015, especially... READ MORE

Compliance professionals live in a world of constant change. As new laws are passed, new regulations are finalized, and public health crises emerge, compliance professionals are expected to guide their organizations through uncharted territory to the destinations chosen by other leaders. Although predicting the future is impossible, compliance priorities rarely develop in isolation. This article surveys significant compliance landmarks from 2018 to help compliance professionals plan for... READ MORE

On October 24, 2018, Congress enacted a new law titled the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (“EKRA”) as part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act of 2018 (“SUPPORT Act”). The SUPPORT Act is a comprehensive law that seeks to combat the opioid... READ MORE

On November 21, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released a report (“Report”) outlining what it believes are multiple deficiencies in the Medicare wage index system. OIG recommended several changes, including revisiting the possibility of comprehensive reform and seeking authority to penalize hospitals that submit inaccurate wage... READ MORE