Articles and Blogs

Pharmacogenetic Testing and the FDA’s 2018 Warning The advent of direct-to-consumer genetic testing has yielded an explosion in the development of various types of genetic tests for clinical treatment and diagnostic purposes. These tests include pharmacogenetic tests, which are used to better understand the role genetics play in an individual patient’s reaction to certain drugs…Read More

It is no secret why the novel coronavirus (“2019-nCoV”) outbreak in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China quickly raised health concerns on an international scale. The coronavirus family contains member viruses with a similarly sinister and deadly past; viruses that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and rapidly spread. For example, two betacoronaviruses were the culprits behind…Read More

On February 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued proposed revisions (“Proposed Rule”) to the regulations governing the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (“CJR”) program. Among other things, the Proposed Rule would extend mandatory participation in the CJR program an additional three years for certain current participants, revise the reconciliation and…Read More

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued an opinion creating a national divide on when a relator is an “original source” of an FCA claim, finding that a relator’s secondhand knowledge of fraud was “direct” knowledge. Facts of the Case In United States ex rel. Banigan v. PharMerica, Inc.[1], a former…Read More

Congress returns this week after its President’s Day district work period. HHS Secretary Azar is testifying before four different congressional committees on the administration’s Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2021 budget request. Also, the White House is expected to submit a formal request for emergency funding for the Coronavirus. The funding is unlikely to become a catch-all…Read More

Most skilled nursing facilities are not correctly complying with life safety requirements or emergency preparedness requirements, according to three recent reports by the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. OIG recently issued three reports on its audits of life safety requirements or emergency preparedness requirements: (1) Life…Read More

States and the federal government are currently expanding laws intended to protect health care workers against workplace violence or raise the penalties for causing harm to health care workers. Workplace Violence Workers in health care settings often face the risk of workplace violence as a result of their interaction with patients and clients. While patients/clients…Read More