Articles and Blogs

NATIONAL CMS’ proposed outpatient payment rule for 2019: 10 things to know Add cardiologists to the list of doctors in short supply CMS proposes 2% ASC pay increase in 2019 House Subcommittee Hears Mixed Review of MACRA How Hospital CEOs Deliver Consistent Patient Experience Across An Enterprise Medicare’s Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule:…Read More

Last month, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to approve the sixth edition of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (the “ERDs”). The approved revisions specifically relate to Part Six of the ERDs, which addresses “Forming New Partnerships with Health Care Organizations and Providers.” The approved revisions entail a restructuring…Read More

On July 25, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued its 2019 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”) Proposed Rule (“OPPS Proposed Rule”). As anticipated based on public comments made by Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Alex Azar, CMS is proposing to expand application of reduced payment for discounted drugs purchased…Read More

CMS Releases Proposed Outpatient Pay Rule On July 25, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued the Medicare hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (“ASC”) proposed rule for Calendar Year 2019, which contains an annual payment rate increase of 1.25 percent. Most significantly, the proposed rule would expand the “site-neutral”…Read More

NATIONAL AHA Seeks Changes to Stark Law to Support Care Coordination How Hospital Merger and Acquisition Activity is Changing Healthcare CMS seeks chief health informatics officer to lead HIT efforts Former HHS leaders: Stark and anti-kickback laws ‘harm the very patients they are supposed to protect’ What healthcare CFOs should know about artificial intelligence, machine…Read More

Earlier this year, Hall Render attorneys Ammon Fillmore and Melissa Markey published a series of articles with Becker’s Hospital Review on blockchain technology and its impact, potential benefits and challenges within health care. Blockchain Technology: Building Trust in the Supply Chain In this article, learn what blockchain is, how it relates to cryptocurrency and where…Read More

The adjudicators who review employer submitted immigration petitions such as H-1B’s and I-140’s will soon have more discretion available to deny those petitions. Health care employers will be specifically affected by this change as about 25 percent of all physicians practicing or training in the United States are foreign born. On July 13, 2018, U.S….Read More

A recent federal appeals court decision reminds us that employees can bring sexual harassment claims based on the conduct of non-employees, including patients. A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reminds us of that risk. The Facts and Allegations In Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC, a nursing assistant…Read More

Health care providers can learn a thing or two from Starbucks. Similar to Starbucks, health care providers are creditworthy and desirable tenants and should leverage that desirability to negotiate better leases. These five strategies have helped make Starbucks a leader is the retail world, and health care providers would do well to implement the same…Read More

On July 12, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a proposed rule pertaining to payment policies under the Physician Fee Schedule for CY 2019 (“Proposed Rule”). In addition to changes to the Physician Fee Schedule and other Medicare Part B payment policies, the Proposed Rule also addressed modifications to various Stark…Read More