Articles and Blogs

Compliance professionals live in a world of constant change. As new laws are passed, new regulations are finalized, and public health crises emerge, compliance professionals are expected to guide their organizations through uncharted territory to the destinations chosen by other leaders. Although predicting the future is impossible, compliance priorities rarely develop in isolation. This article surveys significant compliance landmarks from 2018 to help compliance professionals plan for the…Read More

On October 24, 2018, Congress enacted a new law titled the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (“EKRA”) as part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act of 2018 (“SUPPORT Act”). The SUPPORT Act is a comprehensive law that seeks to combat the opioid epidemic…Read More

Congress Unlikely to Make Progress on Health Care Bills Before Year-End  As government funding battles overtake Capitol Hill, it appears Congress will not use the lame duck to resolve outstanding health care issues. While the desire to steer clear of health care fights is something different from prior years, outgoing House Ways and Means Committee…Read More

On November 21, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released a report (“Report”) outlining what it believes are multiple deficiencies in the Medicare wage index system. OIG recommended several changes, including revisiting the possibility of comprehensive reform and seeking authority to penalize hospitals that submit inaccurate wage data….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

The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), announced that a small professional association with three doctors and four locations (the “Practice”) has agreed to pay $125,000 and adopt a corrective action plan to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). The potential…Read More

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently issued a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) that would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose the list price for a typical course of treatment of prescription drugs and biologics covered by Medicare or Medicaid in direct-to-consumer television advertisements. This policy development comes just two months after the United…Read More

NATIONAL Amazon adds to its list of HIPAA-eligible machine learning tools Leapfrog releases Fall 2018 safety grades showing medical errors, safety issues prevail in red and blue states Hospital CEOs Agree That Systemness Focus Drives Results Doctors as disruptors? AMA CEO says medicine’s future demands it 93% of MIPS-eligible clinicians to get positive payment adjustment…Read More

Democrats Set to Control Key Health Committees in Next Session of Congress The Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives following the recent midterm elections will significantly change the political landscape for health care issues when lawmakers return for the 116th Session of Congress next year. Overall, the election results will mean divided government and…Read More

Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Alex Azar announced on Thursday, November 8, 2018 that HHS intends to reconsider some of the episode-based payment models that it withdrew almost one year ago. According to Secretary Azar, HHS is exploring new and improved episode-based payment models, including a mandatory bundled payment model for radiation oncology.[1] Secretary…Read More