Articles and Blogs

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently found in favor of a hospital that challenged CMS’s outlier reconciliation process. The District Court in Clarian Health West v. Burwell1 stated the outlier reconciliation process violated the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) because CMS should have allowed for notice and comment prior to starting... READ MORE

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) recently issued Advisory Opinion 16-09, which provided a favorable opinion of a company’s (“Requestor’s”) proposal to provide physician offices with a computerized point-of-care vaccine storage and dispensing system free of charge, subject to certain other requirements (“Arrangement”). OIG stated it would not... READ MORE

To transfer personal data from the European Union (“EU”) to the United States (“US”), a legal basis for the transfer must exist. The EU and the US have agreed to new principles, referred to as Privacy Shield Principles (“Privacy Shield” or “Principles”), that will permit the transfer of personal data between the US and... READ MORE

September 30, 2016 CMS Releases Final Rule for Long-Term Care Facilities On September 28, CMS released a final rule that overhauls the federal regulations that apply to long-term care facilities and creates new compliance obligations for providers. The measure, which goes into effect November 28, 2016, will implement the new regulations in three phases over... READ MORE

On September 28, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities. CMS’s Final Regulations (the “Final Regulations”) cover many regulatory requirements for long-term care facilities (“Facilities”) and create new... READ MORE

On September 14, 2016, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a list of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) addressing the language tagline requirements imposed by Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Along with the FAQs, OCR also released a list of the top... READ MORE

Earlier this year, we reported on several benefits associated with the new Stark exception for timeshare arrangements. While we believe that, under many circumstances, the new timeshare exception is an improvement over the space lease exception, it does have several limitations. Before a health care provider enters into a timeshare license that is designed... READ MORE

As part of their mission and outreach, health care providers (“Provider(s)”) often establish patient assistance programs offering free or discounted services or items in an effort to promote preventive health and wellness in their communities (e.g., free health screenings, treatment or testing, pharmaceuticals, accommodations and transportation services) (“Programs”). The goals of such Programs are... READ MORE

On August 2, 2016, the Treasury Department issued Proposed Regulations under Section 2704 of the Internal Revenue Code. This development has been reported as one of the most significant developments in the federal estate and gift tax law in the last 25 years. If you own stock in a family Subchapter S or Subchapter... READ MORE

Last month on August 2, 2016, the Treasury Department issued Proposed Regulations under Section 2704 of the Internal Revenue Code. This development has been reported as one of the most significant developments in the federal estate and gift tax law in the last 25 years. These Regulations relate to valuing stock, partnership interests and limited... READ MORE