Articles and Blogs

Executive Summary On September 23, 2014, Michigan passed Public Act 285 (“Act”), which requires pharmacy technicians who perform certain functions to be licensed in the State of Michigan. Previously, individuals working as pharmacy technicians were not required to be certified or licensed to perform duties essential to their profession. In considering this new licensure requirement,…Read More

As American hospitals admit the first confirmed Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S., and a second possible patient, providers and counsel need to work with their clients to prepare for the possibility of a patient presenting at their facility. Here are some considerations for initial steps: Update contact information for your local public health officer and legal…Read More

On Tuesday, September 30, CMS released data surrounding physicians and academic hospitals’ financial ties to drug and device makers.  The Open Payment website attempts to make public all payments to doctors and teaching hospitals by drug and medical device companies.  The payments range from meals to promotional speaking to research. The current online version of the…Read More

Over the past decade, hospitals have become increasingly regulated. In response, most hospitals have elected to implement corporate compliance programs. While these programs serve an important purpose, most fail to specifically address an area that is highly regulated – the leasing of hospital real estate. Managing hospital leasing arrangements can be extremely tedious work and…Read More

Leslie R. Caldwell, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, announced recently that all new qui tam complaints would be “shared by the Civil Division with the Criminal Division as soon as the cases are filed.” Fraud prosecutors will now review all qui tam complaints to determine whether to open a parallel criminal investigation.

Executive Summary A spokesperson for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced on September 17, 2014 at the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund conference that all new qui tam (i.e., whistleblower) complaints filed under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) will be reviewed by the Criminal Division of the DOJ.  While concurrent…Read More

HHS Report Projects Impact of Uncompensated Care on Hospitals On Wednesday, September 24, HHS released a report that projected hospitals will save $5.7 billion in 2014 in uncompensated care costs due to the Affordable Care Act.  The report calculates that in the 26 states that accepted federal money to extend Medicaid eligibility, hospitals are expected to save…Read More

Congress Passes Post-Acute Care Bill On September 18, the Senate passed, by unanimous consent, a bill that would require post-acute care providers to submit standardized data on its services. The bipartisan legislation (H.R. 4994), which was passed by the House a day earlier,  also requires HHS and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”) to provide Congress…Read More

Ways and Means Releases Draft Program Integrity Legislation On September 9, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health released a draft bill that includes the Hall Render Stark Initiative legislation. The Protecting Integrity in Medicare Act (“PIMA”) of 2014 is aimed at combating fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare program, and central to the draft…Read More

On September 5, 2014, the Indiana Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the hospital defendant.  Plaintiff asserted teaching hospitals have a duty to specifically identify on its consent forms (both by name and qualification) all medical personnel, including interns and residents, that may be…Read More