Articles and Blogs

NATIONAL 14 rural senators push CMS to extend low-wage hospitals’ payment bump in FY2024 American Hospital Association voices support for telehealth expansion bill Behavioral health market to hit $262B by 2029 Biden administration moves to establish ‘guardrails’ for telehealth prescriptions CMS Officials Confirm End of PHE Nursing Home Waivers, Barring Congressional Action CMS updates... READ MORE

U.S. Senators proposed a bill that, if passed, would open the door to more physician-owned hospitals. The bill removes the Affordable Care Act’s ban on creating and expanding physician-owned hospitals. Georgia’s Senate passed a bill (which was previously highlighted in the 2/20/23 Briefing following the bill’s introduction) that exempts rural hospitals from the state’s... READ MORE

On February 10, 2023, the Office for Human Research Protections (“OHRP”) announced that the COVID-19 single institutional review board (“IRB”) exception determination will expire on May 11, 2023, consistent with the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“PHE”). With the expiration of the COVID-19 single IRB exception determination (the “COVID-19 Exception Determination”), research... READ MORE

As required by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (“Sunshine Act”), by March 31, 2023, manufacturers of covered drugs, medical devices, biologicals and other medical supplies (“Applicable Manufacturers”), as well as applicable group purchasing organizations (“GPOs”), must report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) payments made and other investment interests given in... READ MORE

On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board” or “NLRB”) released a decision stating that an employer violates Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“Act” or “NLRA”) when it “proffers a severance agreement with provisions that would restrict employees’ exercise of their NLRA rights.” In particular, this opinion focused on... READ MORE

On Friday, February 24, 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) proposed new regulations that would permanently allow for telemedicine-controlled substance prescriptions, including induction of medication assisted therapy (“MAT”) using buprenorphine. These long-awaited rules will be subject to an accelerated, 30-day notice and comment period that ends March 31, 2023 to allow for implementation prior... READ MORE

In August 2022, in this post, we alerted Michigan employers defending wrongful discharge claims in violation of public policy that internal, as well as external complaints, will suffice to support such claims. In facts stemming from the same case (after remand from the Michigan Supreme Court), Michigan employers should also recognize that wrongful discharge... READ MORE

On February 7, 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it recovered over $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (“FCA”) related settlements and judgments in the federal fiscal year 2022. While this is less than half of the previous year’s recovery of $5.6 billion, the number of cases settled was the second highest... READ MORE

NATIONAL Addressing Staff Burnout In Healthcare Design Amazon completes $3.9B acquisition of One Medical CMS accepting applications for extended bundled payment model CMS to test new payment models for lowering prescription drug prices Data breaches continue to plague health care industry FTC’s enforcement action against GoodRx ‘a wakeup call’ for digital health FTC says... READ MORE

JLL’s Valuation Advisory group released its 2023 Healthcare Investor Survey and Trends Outlook. Among the report’s highlights: Cap rates have risen 50 bps and are likely to continue upward until the middle of 2023; medical office occupancy has ticked back up since 2020, making MOBs the largest investment opportunity in 2023; and the shift... READ MORE