Articles and Blogs

Executive Summary On October 5, 2011, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published its proposed Work Plan for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2012 (“Plan”).  The Plan, which is published annually and describes the OIG’s new and ongoing audit and enforcement priorities for the upcoming year, is helpful in identifying corporate compliance risk areas and providing... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a final rule modifying the Medicare Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program (“eRx Program”) on August 31, 2011.  The eRx Program provides an incentive to “Eligible Professionals” who adopt e-prescribing technology beginning in 2009 and a payment adjustment (or penalty) for late adopters beginning in 2012.  The... READ MORE

A good reminder for leases between health care entities and physician groups is that under the Stark regulations, the space rented is reasonable and necessary for the legitimate business purposes of the lease and is used exclusively by the lessee (during such times when the lessee is using the space) and is not shared... READ MORE

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REVENUE OPPORTUNITY CMS recently announced that, beginning with the FFY 2013 Medicare Wage Index, allowable Defined Benefit Pension expenses will be based upon each hospital’s actual cash contributions to the plan over a 3-year period.  Thus, the FFY 2013 wage index will be based upon each hospital’s average funding contribution for FFYs 2008, 2009... READ MORE

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Many employers ask on their employment applications whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor.  Often a failure to truthfully answer that question is considered to be cause for either rejecting the applicant or for a later discharge if the lie is discovered after the person is hired.  A new... READ MORE

In our Employment Law News article of August 29, 2011, we advised of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new requirement that most private sector, non-governmental employers post a Notice of Employee Rights under the National Labor Relations Act.  When the NLRB made its announcement in August, the official posters were not yet available. ... READ MORE

On August 23, 2011, CMS invited health care providers to apply to help test and develop four different models of bundled payments. This Initiative is part of CMS’ overall effort under the Affordable Care Act to better coordinate care among providers. Unlike the criticism CMS received regarding the complexity of the Shared Savings Program,... READ MORE

There has been a significant development in how the EEOC views No-Fault Attendance Policies that fail to consider whether the reason for an absence was due to a disability.  Employers that don’t consider disability-caused absences in applying discipline can be in jeopardy under the ADA for failing to reasonably accommodate the employee’s disability by... READ MORE