Articles and Blogs

The Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) recently announced that hospitals have until March 23, 2023, to object to the release of certain data related to COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) high-impact payments.  Although the scope of the release is limited, hospitals that do not respond by the deadline will be considered to have... READ MORE

NATIONAL Cleveland Clinic, Ascension, Kaiser among 42 health systems chosen for $50M innovation project FTC tells Amazon, One Medical: Be careful how you use patient data Hospital organizations urge Congress to prevent Medicaid DSH cuts One Medical CEO rebuts Amazon data privacy concerns Rural hospital crisis: Momentum builds in Congress for bipartisan legislation Social... READ MORE

President Biden released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2024. The $6.9 trillion budget includes a number of health care and real estate proposals. In terms of health care proposals, Biden would like to make Affordable Care Act subsidies permanent, give federal health care agencies more power to negotiate drug pricing for high-value generic... READ MORE

A federal court recently held that Hurley Medical Center (“Hurley”) conducted an individualized inquiry and reasonably concluded that a nursing student intern’s accommodation request to bring her service dog with her as part of her clinical nursing rotation posed a direct threat jeopardizing the health and safety of patients and staff. The court also... READ MORE

In an effort to not only establish a uniform standard for how U.S. Attorney Offices (“USAOs”) assess and credit voluntary self-disclosures but to also incentivize early and voluntary self-disclosure of corporate criminal misconduct, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has implemented a new Voluntary Self-Disclosure (“VSD”) Policy to be used by USAOs nationwide (the “Policy”).... READ MORE

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