Articles and Blogs

On July 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois granted summary judgment in favor of a number of pharmacy defendants who argued that they could not be liable under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) because their interpretation of an applicable law was objectively reasonable, though incorrect, at the time that…Read More

On June 30, 2020,  the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), along with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a finalized version of their new Vertical Merger Guidelines (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines do not institute many significant changes to the enforcer’s approach to analyzing vertical mergers but rather attempt to memorialize the agencies’…Read More

Mergers and acquisitions in the health care industry present unique challenges that are not often present when undertaking 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 all of the components of health care regulation. Teaching…Read More

In April 2020, Hall Render published an article detailing state statutory, administrative and common law directives guiding commercial eviction and foreclosure actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two months later, the pandemic has far from subsided with many states reporting rising rates of new cases and experts predicting a second wave sometime in the fall, yet…Read More

CMS recently issued an update of a memorandum entitled “COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers” (“Blanket Waiver Memo”) that announced additional blanket waivers for providers, including hospitals and skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”) as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”). The waivers have a retroactive effective date of March 1,…Read More

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) published a final rule amending its regulations concerning its jurisdictional authority over health care providers that participate in TRICARE. Effective immediately, and in direct opposition with its prior legal position, OFCCP has confirmed that it lacks authority to regulate health care providers solely because they participate in…Read More

Recently the Fourth Circuit in U.S. ex rel Complin v. North Carolina Baptist Hospital, No. 19-1243, 2020 WL 3167634 (4th Cir. June 15, 2020) (per curiam) affirmed dismissal of a False Claims Act (“FCA”) complaint with prejudice, finding that the qui tam relator, Joseph Vincoli, failed to meet certain pleading requirements in both his fraud…Read More

On June 25, 2020, CMS released the pre-publication copy of the CY2021 Home Health PPS Proposed Rule (the “Proposed Rule”). Compared to prior years, this year’s rule is surprisingly brief. Of course, COVID-19 Pandemic has already resulted in significant compliance challenges for the industry. The Proposed Rule addresses the annual payment update. CY2021 Adjustments Based…Read More