Articles and Blogs

On June 25, 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (the “Act”) to make Illinois the eleventh state to allow recreational marijuana use. Effective January 1, 2020, adults age 21 and older may purchase and possess up to 1 ounce (30 grams) of marijuana at a time from a licensed…Read More

This is another article in a series discussing the complete overhaul of Part 483 to Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations the Requirements for States and Long-Term Care Facilities (“Final Regulations”) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). To view other articles in this series, click here. Beginning on November 28, 2019,…Read More

House Subcommittee Passes Surprise Billing Measure Despite Member Disagreement On Thursday, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee approved 10 bills, including a measure addressing surprise medical billing. The “No Surprises Act” (H.R. 3630), introduced by Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), would prohibit surprise billing and limit patient…Read More

On June 26, 2019, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill dramatically limiting substantial portions of Florida’s Certificate of Need (“CON”) program. The new law takes effect in two phases. Effective July 1, 2019, general hospitals, comprehensive rehabilitation and “tertiary”[i] health services, such as pediatric cardiac catheterization, pediatric open-heart surgery and neonatal intensive…Read More

Thanks to a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) this spring, Medicare Advantage (“MA”) plans will now be able to offer additional telehealth benefits to enrollees starting in 2020. Historically, MA plans have been able to offer more telehealth services compared to Original Medicare as part of their supplemental…Read More

NATIONAL Readmissions penalty doing little to slow the spinning of hospitals’ revolving doors Joint replacement penalties for rehospitalizations may have hit their limit 3 things to know about physician salary The Impact of a Hospital Post-Acute Care Program on Value-Based Care 10 health systems with strong finances What Telemedicine’s Growth Rate Means for the Industry…Read More

On July 5, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion enforcing Supreme Court precedent that the False Claims Act (“FCA”) should be reserved for true fraud against the government—not “garden-variety regulatory violations.” In U.S. ex rel. Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP v. BASF Corp.,[1] the D.C. Circuit reviewed a…Read More

For-profit businesses are generally organized and operated to maximize shareholder value. For this reason, for-profit organizations have inherent limitations in pursuing goals or purposes that conflict with increasing the bottom line for shareholders. While for-profit companies have traditionally had these limitations, in recent years, many for-profit organizations have been presented with a new legal structure…Read More

On June 12, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit joined the Second, Sixth and Eighth Circuits in determining that without evidence of an underlying physiological disorder, a plaintiff’s weight does not qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). In the Seventh Circuit case Richardson v. Chicago Transit…Read More