Articles and Blogs

 NATIONAL How hospitals use biometrics to prevent patient ID errors, speed service Bonus pay for doctors can boost quality of care OCR sets record in 2018 for HIPAA enforcement actions Healthgrades names ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ 2019 Private equity pushes into healthcare: 9 latest deals 50 best healthcare supply chains in North America, rated by GHX…Read More

On February 7, 2019, the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a report titled CMS Guidance to State Survey Agencies on Verifying Correction of Deficiencies Needs to Be Improved to Help Ensure the Health and Safety of Nursing Home Residents (“Report”). The Report found that seven…Read More

Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a favorable advisory opinion, Advisory Opinion 19-01, concerning a charitable pediatric clinic (the “Clinic”)’s arrangement under which the Clinic waives cost-sharing amounts for a small percentage of TRICARE and Medicare beneficiaries not covered by a state insurance program (the “Arrangement”). After a…Read More

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced this month news of a Settlement Agreement and a Corporate Integrity Agreement (the “Agreements”) with Greenway Health, LLC (“Greenway”). The Agreements include a payment by Greenway of $57.25 million. Greenway customers should…Read More

Senate Lays Groundwork for Pricing Transparency Legislation A bipartisan group of senators continue to lay the groundwork for the introduction of pricing transparency legislation. On February 5, the senators released a letter seeking information from stakeholders as they prepare to introduce legislation that builds on draft legislation from last Congress. The effort is being led…Read More

In a partial affirmation, the Fourth Circuit weeded out False Claims Act (“FCA”) claims made without particularity, requiring relators to “connect the dots” between the alleged false claims and government payment and highlighted the FCA’s recently amended “objective reasonableness” standard in reviewing retaliation claims. Background In 2010, the FCA was amended to include any party…Read More

NATIONAL How to make healthcare more like Amazon? It comes down to data and payer-provider collaboration How hospitals will handle outpatient competition & disruption in 2019 White House reportedly reviewing final rule to reverse nursing home arbitration ban CMS Lifts Moratoria on Home Health After 5 Years Amazon’s PillPack secures more state licenses, could be…Read More

S&P Global Ratings, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service recently released their Nonprofit Healthcare 2019 Outlooks, which are largely consistent with 2018, despite changes in the health care industry over the past year. Fitch and Moody’s issued negative outlooks for the nonprofit health care sector, while S&P’s sector outlook was stable. Despite their differing views…Read More

HHS Previews 2019 Regulatory Agenda At a symposium on Tuesday, Deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan and CMS Administrator Seema Verma outlined the administration’s health care strategy for 2019, which includes advancing the use of technology, adjusting payments in rural areas and testing new ways to reward high-quality care and reforms to the Stark and Anti-Kickback…Read More

On January 31, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a proposed rule that, if finalized, would eliminate Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) safe harbor protection for prescription drug rebates paid by manufacturers to pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”), Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid managed care organizations (“Proposed Rule”). OIG…Read More