Articles and Blogs

On August 8, 2020, President Trump announced four executive actions intended to provide certain targeted relief for enhanced unemployment payments, eviction moratoriums, student loan payment relief and employee payroll taxes while negotiations continue in Congress for the next round of stimulus/aid in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This summary focuses on the Presidential Memorandum directing…Read More

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently announced the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (“CHART”) Model, which is a new voluntary payment model aimed at increasing access to and improving the quality of health care in rural communities through a value-based rather than volume-based approach. Under the CHART Model, Accountable Care Organizations…Read More

On Friday, September 11, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced revisions to its initial Rule implementing the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (“EPSLA”) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (“EFMLEA”) under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). The “Revised Rule” goes into effect on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. The…Read More

Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit[1] in Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish[2] declined to establish a blanket rule extending the “ministerial exception” beyond tangible employment decisions to claims of a hostile work environment asserted by ministerial employees. The court observed that while the First Amendment protected religious employers’…Read More

With the school year beginning and many schools opting to reopen with an alternative format due to COVID-19, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released new frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) aimed at clarifying paid leave under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Family and Medical leave portions of the…Read More

CMS finalized a proposal to allow the temporary transfer of Medicare graduate medical education (“GME”) full-time equivalent (“FTE”) cap slots from teaching hospitals that terminate their Medicare provider agreement or close a residency program to hospitals that continue training their departing residents or fellows. CMS made relatively few changes to the rule that it proposed…Read More

On September 3, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced the details of its $2 billion Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) performance-based incentive payment distribution to nursing homes. “Nursing homes” refers to skilled nursing facilities (often known as SNFs) for Medicare and nursing facilities (often known as NFs) for Medicaid. This $2 billion…Read More

On September 2, 2020, CMS published the delayed Final Rule for the FFY 2021 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“PPS”). This Final Rule will appear in the Federal Register on September 18, 2020 and will still become effective on October 1, 2020, despite its delays. Payments for inpatient hospital services for hospitals that are EHR Meaningful…Read More