Articles and Blogs

ACA Repeal Could Pass the House by Easter The House Republican leadership announced to their members this week that committee hearings to mark up ACA replacement legislation will begin by the middle of next week. The strategy outlined will take up the remainder of March and possibly the first week of April with the goal…Read More

A recent case in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has significant implications regarding the obligations of hospitals to report certain actions to the National Practitioner Data Bank (“NPDB”). As a brief overview, the hospital in the case imposed a requirement that a surgeon’s next five cases be proctored. The…Read More

The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) established certain amendments to the Stark Law, including that new physician-owned hospitals cannot be formed and existing physician-owned hospitals cannot expand the aggregate number of operating rooms, procedure rooms or licensed beds beyond the number for which the hospital was licensed on March 23, 2010. Due to the Trump administration’s…Read More

In an August publication, we outlined proposed legislation by Rep. Edward Canfield (R-Sebewaing) and Sen. Peter MacGregor (R-Rockford) that would have revised: (1) the Public Health Code to prohibit the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs or a professional board from requiring a physician to maintain a national or regional certification and prohibit hospitals from…Read More

Draft House Republican ACA Replacement Bill Leaked With Congress set to return to Washington on February 27, a draft of the House legislation to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) using the procedure known as budget reconciliation was posted by the Politico news site on Friday. The 106-page measure would eliminate key aspects of…Read More

A Seventh Circuit panel including Judge Posner affirmed summary judgment for AMS Mechanical System, Inc., the employer in an ADA case, despite some facts adverse to AMS. The panel accepted the employee’s version of the facts insofar as they were supported by his testimony: the employee, a welder named Gogos, left work early for a…Read More

OFCCP mailed letters last week to over 350 separate companies notifying them that they are on the agency’s “to be audited” list. Known as Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (“CSALs”), the letters are provided as a courtesy in the hope that the company will be better prepared for the compliance review. Importantly, the notices are addressed to the…Read More

Legislation introduced by Representative Rob Nosse on January 9, 2017 – House Bill 2664 – provides for the establishment of extended stay centers in Oregon. Specifically, the legislation authorizes the operation of extended stay centers,  specifies criteria for their licensure and requires the Oregon Health Authority to adopt rules to implement the licensing program. If…Read More

The Cures Act addresses certain electronic health record (“EHR”) difficulties faced by physicians who practice primarily in ambulatory surgery centers (“ASCs”). Section 16003 explicitly excludes physicians who furnish substantially all of their Medicare services at ASCs from the penalties imposed under various programs for failure to adopt a certified EHR. Under the current Medicare Meaningful…Read More

Under the Breach Notification Rule, HIPAA covered entities are required to submit reports of certain breaches of unsecured protected health information (“PHI”) affecting fewer than 500 individuals to the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) on an annual basis. Covered entities must submit their breaches electronically through OCR’s breach notification web page, which can be found…Read More