Articles and Blogs

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a school district acted lawfully when it withdrew a teacher’s requested religious accommodation to call students by their last names instead of using transgender students’ preferred names or pronouns. The Court opined that the accommodation caused harm to transgender students, other students, and the educational... READ MORE

The Indiana General Assembly recently passed Senate Enrolled Act 7 (“SEA 7”), which will further restrict the enforceability of non-compete agreements between health care employers and their physician employees. After Governor Holcomb’s expected signature, SEA 7 will go into effect on July 1, 2023. This is not the first time the Indiana legislature has... READ MORE

On May 1, 2023, the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group at CMS issued a memorandum entitled “Guidance for the Expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE)” (the “CMS Memo”) which announced that certain regulations or other policies included in the Interim Final Rules during the public health emergency (“PHE”) will be modified with the... READ MORE

As the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll, the year 2020 ushered in declarations of a National Emergency (“NE”) and a Public Health Emergency (“PHE”). The PHE is set to expire on May 11, 2023. In addition, H.J. Res. 7 was signed by President Biden on April 10, which ends the NE on May 11,... READ MORE

NATIONAL 16 bills in healthcare package, but little to show for nursing homes AHA discusses legislative proposals on site-neutral, 340B and other issues at House subcommittee hearing AHA: Financial Challenges Continue as Hospital Expenses Rise AHA: Supply chain won’t return to ‘normal’ anytime soon, but here’s what you can do American Hospital Association wants... READ MORE

Kaiser Permanente has agreed to acquire PA-based Geisinger Health System. The combination, which still must pass federal and state regulatory scrutiny, would have more than $100B in revenue. Commercial landlords are contending simultaneously with a cyclical market downturn and reduced demand for office and retail space. The recent surge in interest rates has caused... READ MORE

Diversified Healthcare Trust (DHC) will merge with Office Properties Income Trust (OPI) in an all-stock transaction. DHC owns 379 health care properties valued at an estimated $7.1 billion. OPI owns 160 general office properties with a $577 million market cap. Optum is now in the business of providing loans to physician practice groups. This is another way Optum... READ MORE

NATIONAL 6 health systems using GPT and AI tools 100,000 nurses left industry during the pandemic, report finds AHA backs bill to delay Medicaid DSH cuts by 2 years AHA launches info hub for healthcare quality leaders AHA opposes MedPAC recommendations to Congress on site-neutral, Part B drug, wage index policies AHA ramps up... READ MORE

The FFY 2024 IPPS Proposed Rule (“Proposed Rule”) was released on April 10, 2023, and CMS published the associated tables on its website.  The Proposed Rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register on May 1st.  This year CMS is proposing to implement a change to its rural floor wage index policy... READ MORE

On April 12, 2023, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to strengthen privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) for reproductive health care. The proposed rule builds on the previous guidance... READ MORE