Articles and Blogs

The Cures Act addresses certain electronic health record (“EHR”) difficulties faced by physicians who practice primarily in ambulatory surgery centers (“ASCs”). Section 16003 explicitly excludes physicians who furnish substantially all of their Medicare services at ASCs from the penalties imposed under various programs for failure to adopt a certified EHR. Under the current Medicare... READ MORE

Under the Breach Notification Rule, HIPAA covered entities are required to submit reports of certain breaches of unsecured protected health information (“PHI”) affecting fewer than 500 individuals to the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) on an annual basis. Covered entities must submit their breaches electronically through OCR’s breach notification web page, which can be... READ MORE

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against two Michigan hospitals, holding that their written agreements regarding their medical residents’ off-site training programs failed to comply with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) requirements for graduate medical education (“GME”) reimbursement. While the laws applicable in this... READ MORE

As of late, commercial payors appear to be increasing the number of audits they are conducting focused on medical necessity. The commercial payor audit notices and overpayment demands appear to rely on some of the same techniques as those of government auditors, such as data analysis for outliers, predictive modeling and extrapolation, to scrutinize... READ MORE

House Leadership Releases Outline for ACA Reform On February 16, Republican House leadership circulated a 16-page blueprint for ACA reform. The  proposal, which was not in legislative form, is intended to provide an outline of what the House will attempt to pass by their informal deadline of April 6. The measure’s highlights include: reforming... READ MORE

As a result of legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2014, two important property tax dates changed for 2016 and going forward. January 1 is the assessment  date of real and personal property for taxes due and payable in the following year (see, IC 6-1.1-2-1.5). Historically, March 1 was the assessment date... READ MORE

Title VIII: What Does It Mean for States This is the first article in a series on the 21st Century Cures Act (the “Act”), which was signed into law on December 13, 2016, and includes significant mental health reforms and funding to help combat mental health and substance abuse disorders, in addition to other... READ MORE

The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board (“MEB”), on January 27, 2017, filed with the Wisconsin Legislature a proposed administrative rule governing the practice of medicine using telemedicine (“Med 24”). Upon the completion of the legislative review and approval process and final publication by the MEB, Med 24 will delineate standards that apply to a physician... READ MORE

In continuation of its active beginning to the new year, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced on February 1, 2017, that it imposed a HIPAA civil money penalty of $3.2 million on a Texas medical center (“Medical Center”). OCR issued the penalty for wrongful disclosure of... READ MORE

On January 3, 2017, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley signed Senate Bills 1015 and 1016 (collectively, the “Act”), which require applied behavior analysts to be licensed similarly to other professionals in the medical field. In an analysis of the Act, the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency reasoned that early intervention using evidence-based treatment has shown... READ MORE