Articles and Blogs

The new Tax Reform Act (the “Act”) contains numerous changes to the Internal Revenue Code that will affect tax-exempt hospitals and other health care organizations. Leaders of these organizations should begin 2018 by giving careful attention to the new restrictions and planning opportunities to avoid adverse consequences later. Repeal of Individual Mandate Beginning in January…Read More

For an update to this article, please click here. As stated in our previous blog, while there has been no official guidance from CMS regarding a broad prohibition on the texting of protected health information (“PHI”), there has been significant discussion in industry circles about CMS’s recently stated position against texting PHI. As reported in the…Read More

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently shifted to a Republican majority when President Trump’s two nominations to the Board were confirmed. Additionally, the president’s nomination for general counsel of the NLRB, a former management-side labor law attorney, was sworn in on November 17, 2017. The new Board has hit the ground running and has issued…Read More

Congress Passes Stopgap Spending Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown After passing the most significant tax reform legislation since 1986, Republicans in Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown on December 22 by passing legislation that temporarily funds the government through January 19, 2018. The House voted 231-88 to approve the short-term spending bill, and the Senate quickly followed,…Read More

NATIONAL Physician job growth varies greatly by region, report finds HHS OIG Report Cites Concerns with MACRA Implementation 4 healthcare revenue cycle trends to watch in 2018 OCR revamps HIPAA guidance in wake of opioid crisis, 21st Century Cures rules Physician pay increased in 2017 as demand grew, according to study 2017: A Look Back…Read More

For an update to this article, please click here. If your organization allows texting, consider recent CMS communications prohibiting all texting Hall Render has become aware that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has been communicating to hospitals that texting is unacceptable, even through secure text messaging applications, due to concerns about the privacy…Read More

NATIONAL MedPAC finalizes recommendation to repeal MIPS WSJ: Ascension, Providence St. Joseph in merger talks Dignity Health announces merger with Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives Optum’s MedExpress and Walgreens team up on urgent care Improve communication, save time in practice with these methods 5 most interesting health IT partnerships this week Politics don’t change our mission:…Read More

House and Senate Republicans Reach Deal on Tax Reform On December 13, House and Senate Republicans announced they’ve reached an agreement on how to reconcile the differences between their respective tax reform bills. Although text of the legislation has not been released, reports indicate the final version will repeal the ACA’s individual mandate and keep…Read More

Under the federal Stark Law, hospitals may provide non-monetary compensation to physicians up to an aggregate amount of $407 for calendar year 2018. The dollar limit for “medical staff incidental benefits” (e.g., meals, parking and other items or incidental services that are used on the hospital’s campus) is less than $34 per occurrence. Other requirements…Read More

On November 28, 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) rescinded Advisory Opinion 06-04, which had been issued in 2006 to Caring Voice Coalition (“Requestor”), a nonprofit, tax-exempt, charitable organization. Requestor operated a patient assistance program (“PAP”) that provided financially needy Medicare beneficiaries with Medicare premium and cost-sharing assistance….Read More