Articles and Blogs

Introduction On July 26, 2012, with further amendment on August 14, 2012, the Department of Justice announced that its Civil Rights Division will be partnering with U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the country to make sure that people with disabilities have access to medical information in an understandable format.1 This initiative – the Barrier-Free Health... READ MORE

This Health Law News article is Part VI in a series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems: Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.” The full Report is available here. Part I – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, Part II – Public... READ MORE

Executive Summary On August 23, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) issued OIG Advisory Opinion 12-10 (the “AO”).  The OIG reviewed a proposed arrangement to provide free insurance pre-authorization services to referring physicians and concluded that while the free services potentially could be characterized as prohibited... READ MORE

Executive Summary This is the second in a series on Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital (“DSH”) payment issues and is designed to provide hospitals with a practical approach for determining if they want to pursue different DSH appeal issues. On September 11, 2012, CMS posted the 2010 DSH-SSI (Supplemental Security Income) ratios.  As reported previously... READ MORE

On September 17, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it had reached an agreement with two health care providers who were operating as a single affiliated covered entity for purposes of HIPAA (collectively referred to as the “Providers”) to settle potential violations of the Security Rule of the Health... READ MORE

This Health Law News article is Part V in a series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems:  Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.”  The full Report is available here.  Part I – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, Part II – Public... READ MORE

Executive Summary The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (“DEA”) recent actions should serve as a warning to pharmacies and drug distributors.  This week, the DEA announced that it had revoked the DEA Certificates of Registration (“DEA Registration”) for two CVS Caremark Corp. (“CVS”) pharmacies in Sanford, Florida.  As a result, these pharmacies are prohibited from dispensing... READ MORE

This Health Law News article is Part IV in a series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems:  Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.”  The full Report is available here.  Part I – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, Part II – Public... READ MORE

Recently, there have been several significant changes to Medicare’s therapy caps that will be effective on October 1, 2012.  Many of these changes are due to the enactment of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (the “Act”).  This article summarizes these changes to the therapy caps and the exception... READ MORE

This Health Law News article is Part III in a series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems:  Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.”  Part 1 – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, and Part II – Public and Private Scrutiny of Hospital and... READ MORE