Articles and Blogs

The application of the Medicare therapy caps has been revised many times over the past several years.  Most recently, Congress passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (“Act”), which extends exceptions to the therapy caps and continues to apply services performed in outpatient hospital departments to the therapy caps until March 31, 2015. ... READ MORE

Tax-exempt organizations should be mindful that Form 990-series information returns are due on the 15th day of the fifth month after a tax-exempt organization’s tax year ends.  Thus, if your organization operates on a calendar year basis, then your due date is May 15th.  Furthermore, organizations with a June 30 year end that previously... READ MORE

Nearly all hospitals are prohibited by federal law from discriminating in employment based on race, color, sex, religion, ethnicity, disability and age.  Those that have certain types of federal contracts must go further by engaging in affirmative action.  Compliance with federal affirmative action laws is difficult and expensive, especially when audits are involved.  Unfortunately... READ MORE

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Executive Summary On April 16, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) released Report A-05-12-00020 entitled “Medicare and Beneficiaries Could Save Billions If CMS Reduces Hospital Outpatient Department Payment Rates For Ambulatory Surgical Center-Approved Procedures To Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Rates” (“Report”) – a Report title that... READ MORE

Executive Summary On March 10, 2014, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy (“Board”) issued guidance regarding pharmacists’ “corresponding responsibility” in relation to the Medical Licensing Board’s new emergency rule concerning prescribing controlled substances for pain management treatment (“Rule“).1 The Board’s Corresponding Responsibility Guidance (“Guidance“)2 clarifies that the Rule does not place any new requirements on... READ MORE

On April 22, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it reached settlements with two covered entities arising from alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy and Security Rules.  Both settlements involve the theft of unencrypted laptops and follow investigations in which the Office for... READ MORE

During the recently concluded 2014 tax filing season, it appears that an unusually large number of health care professionals in Indiana, as well as several other states, were victims of an increasingly common form of identity theft: tax return refund fraud.  Even though the 2014 tax filing season has ended, all taxpayers, and especially... READ MORE

Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration continues its efforts to communicate, address and refine questions and issues related to the upcoming Medicaid coverage changes.  READ MORE

Executive Summary The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released an April 2014 report sharing the results of its investigation of home health agencies’ (“HHAs'”) face-to-face documentation.  The report details both the manner and method of OIG’s investigation and a number of its findings.  OIG noted that 32% of the home health claims did not have the... READ MORE