Articles and Blogs

CDC’s opioid prescribing guidelines prompt states to adopt quantity limits Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb recently signed into law Senate Enrolled Act 226 (SEA 226), which places limits on the opioid quantities that may be prescribed by state-licensed practitioners beginning July 1, 2017. Prescribing caps on opioids have gained increasing popularity following the March 2016 release…Read More

On May 17, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) introduced companion legislation (S. 1133) to the House bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) moratorium on physician-owned hospitals. Named the Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2017, the bill is the Senate’s version of legislation (H.R. 1156) previously introduced in the House…Read More

Senate GOP Still Without AHCA Legislative Text As the countdown to the July 4 recess continues, Republicans in the Senate continue to seek consensus within their party on health care reform legislation. However, as of this writing, rank-and-file Republicans still haven’t seen legislative text on their body’s version of the American Health Care Act (“AHCA”)….Read More

Physician groups composed of MIPS eligible clinicians (“MECs”[1]) may elect to have their members’ MIPS performance scored individually or as a group. This article notes a few key aspects of MIPS group scoring for 2017. MIPS Group Scoring Includes Performance Data from New Medicare-Enrolled MECs For the 2017 MIPS performance period, a new Medicare-enrolled MEC…Read More

ACA Repeal Update Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reiterated this week his desire to release the Senate’s version of the American Health Care Act (“AHCA”) by the end of June and have a vote before the July 4 recess. However, meeting the ambitious July 4 deadline would require the Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) to…Read More

While many providers recognize there are benefits to integrating behavioral health and primary care, reimbursement for services continue to be one of the most challenging barriers to achieving integration. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and the 21st Century Cures Act signed into law in December 2016 are efforts made by…Read More

On May 25, 2017, the Michigan Supreme Court dealt another blow to medical providers seeking payment for services provided to individuals injured in car accidents in Michigan. In the opinion, the court held that a medical provider does not have standing to bring a claim against a no-fault insurer for the payment of personal protection…Read More

The news of the $155 million settlement between eClinicalWorks (“eCW”), several eCW employees and the U.S. Department of Justice has left many current users of the eClinicalWorks EHR (“eCW EHR”) wondering what impact it will have upon them. First, the terms of the settlement provide several rights to current users. Second, actions taken to date…Read More

The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) ruled on Monday, June 5, 2017 that retirement plans maintained by religiously affiliated hospitals meet the definition of a church plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). As church plans, they are not subject to ERISA’s rules and regulations unless the…Read More

On May 31, 2017, 184 legislators wrote a bipartisan letter to Secretary Tom Price of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to request that HHS revisit and roll back a 2013 policy memo that discourages insurance companies selling Qualified Health Plans on the exchanges from accepting payments from hospitals and other third parties…Read More