Articles and Blogs

On Wednesday, May 21, 2014, in a letter to American Hospital Association President Richard Umbdenstock, Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed that private, not-for-profit foundations can use properly structured premium support programs to make premium payments to Qualified Health Plans (“QHPs”) on behalf of QHP enrollees.1  In this latest guidance on the... READ MORE

Hospital Physician Practice Acquisitions: How Electronic Medical Records Impact READ MORE

CMS recently announced the creation of a new role in the medical review process—a Provider Relations Coordinator.  The announcement is below and can be found on the CMS website. READ MORE

Since the enactment of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (cleverly referred to by Congress as the “JOBS Act”) last fall, much has been written regarding its impact on private placements of debt and equity securities.  Most of the reports, briefings and articles have been accurate, but few have been practical.  We find one provision... READ MORE

Recently, the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a Notice of Termination1 of Advisory Opinion 11-18, which was issued December 7, 2011,2 and rejected a similar proposal in Advisory Opinion 14-03.3 READ MORE

Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a proposed rule to update fire safety standards for certain types of facilities (“Proposed Rule”).  In the Proposed Rule, CMS proposes to adopt the 2012 Life Safety Code (“LSC”), with certain exceptions discussed below, to replace the 2000 version currently required by the Conditions of... READ MORE

Executive Summary On May 23, 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion invalidating a final agency rule issued on July 23, 2013 (“Final Rule”) by the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”).  The Final Rule had served to clarify the scope of the 340B Program’s “Orphan Drug”... READ MORE

Executive Summary On Friday, May 23, 2014, the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (“PRRB”) released an alert directed at hospitals with pending appeals on the issue of allowable “Medicaid Eligible” days in the calculation of hospitals’ disproportionate share (“DSH”) payments.  Hospitals with Medicaid eligible day appeals have 60 days to provide additional information to the PRRB. ... READ MORE

Executive Summary On May 12, 2014, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued proposed rules to substantially revise its Civil Monetary Penalty Rules (“Proposed Rules”).  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) and the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act enhanced OIG’s statutory authority to exclude persons from participating in federal health... READ MORE

On May 1, 2014, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health announced it is seeking input and feedback on federal legislation that would encourage the deployment and adoption of telehealth technology.  The announcement was made in conjunction with a hearing, “Telehealth to Digital Medicine: How 21st Century Technology Can Benefit Patients,” led by... READ MORE