Articles and Blogs

On Friday, March 23, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a final Federal Register notice informing the public that an application for Rural Health Clinic (“RHC”) deeming authority has been approved.  This RHC deeming authority, the first of its kind, was granted to the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory... READ MORE

The Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”), Department of Health and Human Services, continues to investigate complaints related to the alleged failure of hospitals and health systems to provide interpreters to patients and their companions who are hearing impaired or have limited English proficiency (“LEP”).  In addition to compensatory damages and civil penalties, various settlement... READ MORE

The coming tax year will bring significant new challenges for tax-exempt hospitals, which must comply with a new requirement to prepare a community health needs assessment (“CHNA”) and adopt a corresponding implementation strategy.  Preparing and publicizing these documents will take extensive effort, and hospital leadership should expect that the Congress, the IRS, the media... READ MORE

The Federal Government has reinforced its expanded theory of false claim liability for quality matters by settling allegations against a hospital that a physician’s lack of qualifications to perform certain surgical procedures should be considered a false claim, regardless of the patient’s outcome. As part of the settlement, the hospital defendant paid the Government... READ MORE

On March 13, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it had reached a settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (“Blue Cross”) arising from potential violations of the Privacy and Security Rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”).  Notably, HHS learned of the... READ MORE

Recently, a Pennsylvania-based physician group practice successfully defended an employment discrimination suit, thanks in part to its robust coding review process and auditing of its physicians’ prescribing habits. The physician plaintiff filed a discrimination suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. ... READ MORE

Three and a half months ago, Congress included language in the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) declaring that TRICARE network providers will not be subject to OFCCP’s jurisdiction solely on the basis of their TRICARE network agreements.  The NDAA did not, however, address OFCCP coverage over health care providers in any other context, nor... READ MORE

The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued its first opinion of 2012 on March 8th and posted it on its website yesterday.  In Advisory Opinion #12-01, the OIG issued a favorable opinion regarding a health system’s (“Health System”) proposal to form a wholly-owned group purchasing organization (“GPO”) to be the primary GPO for the... READ MORE

This installment of Hall Render’s Health Law Broadcast series on health care reform is designed to provide you with the insight, analysis and practical suggestions with respect to the various reform initiatives that will affect your organization.    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued additional guidance regarding the essential health... READ MORE

On March 5, 2012, the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) issued a new Program Notice (“Notice”) that provides additional insight into the recent audits of entities participating in the 340B Program (“Covered Entities”).  The Notice, which HRSA characterizes as a restatement of current policy, represents the clearest public statement to date of HRSA’s... READ MORE