Articles and Blogs

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that the attestation deadline for the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program (“Meaningful Use Program”) is changed from February 29, 2016 to March 11, 2016. The new deadline applies to all eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Meaningful Use…Read More

CMS has released its final 60-Day Overpayment Rule, providing clarity to the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) amendment to the False Claims Act (“FCA”) that created FCA liability for failure to repay identified overpayment within 60 days. This is a long-awaited rule that provides essential clarity to an amendment that, until now, has vastly expanded…Read More

Some court decisions are so marvelous, so great at cutting through all the legal argument and theoretical absurdity, that they deserve to be quoted at length. On February 4, 2016, the Hon. Raymond M. Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote just such an opinion. What follows is the first paragraph of that opinion in…Read More

New pay transparency rules for federal contractors went into effect last month. Specifically, the new rules prohibit federal contractors from discriminating or retaliating against employees and applicants who inquire about, discuss or disclose their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. Exceptions exist for employees who have access to the compensation information of other…Read More

Bipartisan Telehealth Bill Introduced Includes Provision Proposed by Hall Render On February 3, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced legislation to expand the use of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring (“RPM”) under Medicare to increase cost savings and quality care. The Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (“CONNECT”) for Health…Read More

On February 1, 2016, the EEOC made public a proposed revision to the Employer Information Report (“EEO-1”) to include collecting pay data from employers, including federal contractors, with more than 100 employees. According the EEOC, the collection of this pay and hours data will help in “identifying possible pay discrimination and assist employers in promoting equal…Read More

Many employers have rules prohibiting the recording of conversations or the taking of photos or videos in the workplace. Even if there is no rule, many employers will tell an employee who wants to record something that it’s not allowed. Presumably, there may be several legitimate reasons for the employer’s reaction to workplace recordings. It…Read More

Hall Render Provides Recommendations to Congress on Stark Law Changes On January 29, Gregg Wallander, Hall Render attorney and leader of the firm’s Health Care Practice Group, provided recommendations to congressional staff on changes to the Stark Law that would provide relief for hospitals and health systems that are required to comply with its burdensome requirements….Read More

As a result of legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2014, two important property tax dates are changing for 2016 and going forward.

Background The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR”), as amended, requires all persons contemplating certain mergers or acquisitions that meet or exceed the jurisdictional thresholds (shown below) to file notification with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division and to wait a period of time before consummating the transaction.