Articles and Blogs

On July 15, a new law in Kentucky took effect that expands the prescribing authority for advanced practice registered nurses (“APRNs”). Kentucky Revised Statutes 314.042 allows APRNs that have been prescribing non-scheduled legend drugs under physician supervision for four years to prescribe these drugs without physician oversight. Proponents of the law say that the change…Read More

Background On July 14, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a proposed rule that would allow physician-owned hospitals to use additional data sources to support requests for exceptions to the ban on expansion of physician-owned hospitals.1 Under the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA’s”) amendments to the Physician Self-Referral Law (“Stark Law”), a…Read More

Unlawful Interference Private employees have the right to engage – or not to engage – in activities in support of a union or each other relating to wages, hours and working conditions.  It’s unlawful for private employers to “interfere” with those rights.  Spying on employees or even just creating the impression of surveillance has been…Read More

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 14, 2014 issued Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues, along with Questions and Answers about the guidance and a Fact Sheet for Small Businesses. This is the first comprehensive update of the EEOC’s guidance on the subject of discrimination against pregnant workers since 1983. This guidance…Read More

Kentucky pharmacists take note: soon you may have to update your prescription drug tracking and dispensation procedures to reflect proposed changes to the Kentucky Administrative Regulations. Section 045 of Chapter 55 in Title 902 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations currently contains a list of drugs that are excluded from the licensing, distribution, recordkeeping and reporting…Read More

At a recent roundtable, the Senate Special Committee on Aging criticized the Medicare claims review process, suggesting it unfairly burdened providers and failed to improve program integrity. The senators blamed the current payment system for the auditors and suggested moving from an arrangement that currently incentivizes recovery of overpayments to one that incentivizes reducing improper…Read More

On July 14, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued the Outpatient Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule for Calendar Year 2015 (“Proposed Rule”), but the Proposed Rule also addresses issues unrelated to OPPS.  Among other changes, the Proposed Rule eliminates the physician certification statement requirement for most inpatient stays paid under Medicare…Read More

S.2501 Eliminates Readmission Penalties Related to Patient Socioeconomic Status On June 19, 2014, U.S. Senators Manchin, Wicker, Kirk and Nelson introduced Senate Bill 2501 entitled The Hospital Readmissions Program Accuracy and Accountability Act of 2014 (“S.2501”) to ensure that hospitals experiencing excessive readmissions are not financially penalized for serving low-income patients.  S.2501 was referred to…Read More

Hall Render Protests Possible Changes to Medicare Group Appeals Process On July 9, Hall Render attorneys John Williams and Elizabeth Elias met with staff at the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees to raise awareness of a provision buried in the FY 2015 Hospital IPPS proposed rule that could make it more difficult…Read More

On July 1, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the home health prospective payment rule (the “Proposed Regulations”) for calendar year 2015.  Importantly, the Proposed Regulations contain the biggest change to the “face-to-face” requirement to date. This article will explain proposed changes to this requirement, as well as discuss other highlights…Read More