Articles and Blogs

On October 8, 2014, CMS announced two initiatives with the objective of improving the quality of post-acute care.  Important to home health providers, CMS released a proposed rule that would revise the conditions of participation (“proposed COPs”) that regulate home health agencies.

Background Recent public comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) shed light on the frustrations faced by physician-owned hospitals trying to expand.  On July 14, 2014, CMS issued a proposed rule to make changes to the data sources that may be used for physician-owned hospital expansion requests under the physician self-referral regulations.1 The…Read More

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced its intent to reopen the submission period for hardship exception applications for eligible professionals and hospitals participating in the Medicare Meaningful Use Program in order to avoid the 2015 Medicare payment adjustments for not demonstrating meaningful use of Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (“CEHRT”). The…Read More

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