Articles and Blogs

On September 1, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that assisted living facilities (“ALFs”) may now apply for funds from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Provider Relief Fund (the “CARES Act Provider Relief Fund”) under the Phase 2 General Distribution. HHS estimates that nearly one million older adults live in an…Read More

In the early morning of Thursday, August 27, 2020, Hurricane Laura made landfall along the southern coast of Louisiana and Mississippi as a Category 4 storm, causing significant property damage to commercial properties, including health care facilities. As nonprofit hospitals and health systems assess and fix the damage resulting from natural disasters like Hurricane Laura,…Read More

The United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, recently issued an opinion reaffirming the need for counsel in qui tam cases under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). In particular, pro se plaintiffs, or individuals proceeding without attorney representation, filed suit against multiple defendants alleging qui tam claims under the FCA as well as 21 federal…Read More

A recent decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the sometimes hostile relationship between the government and the whistleblowers it relies on to prosecute False Claims Act (“FCA”) actions. The resulting opinion was twofold: If the government wants to dictate FCA litigation it must intervene in the lawsuit; and The government has the…Read More

The health care real estate industry has not been immune to the COVID-19 pandemic as evidenced by a lower volume of medical office building sales in the second quarter of 2020. Even so, many current trends in health care real estate existed prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. The outbreak largely amplified, rather than created, those…Read More

On August 17, 2020, the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum entitled “Enforcement Cases Held during the Prioritization Period and Revised Survey Prioritization” (“QSO Memo”) that announced the further expansion of survey activity and guidance around enforcement activity. The QSO Memo follows previous CMS…Read More

Mergers and acquisitions in the health care industry present unique challenges that may not be present when undertaking similar transactions in other industries. Because of health care’s highly regulated nature, parties may falter if a health care transaction is not reviewed and negotiated carefully with respect to the distinct concerns that health care presents. This…Read More

On August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released an Interim Final Rule with comment period (“Rule”) with new requirements and enforcement for Medicare and Medicaid Programs, Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (“CLIA”) and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as additional policy and regulatory revisions in response to the…Read More