Articles and Blogs

The application of the Medicare therapy caps has been revised many times over the past several years.  Most recently, Congress passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (“Act”), which extends exceptions to the therapy caps and continues to apply services performed in outpatient hospital departments to the therapy caps until March 31, 2015.  In…Read More

Tax-exempt organizations should be mindful that Form 990-series information returns are due on the 15th day of the fifth month after a tax-exempt organization’s tax year ends.  Thus, if your organization operates on a calendar year basis, then your due date is May 15th.  Furthermore, organizations with a June 30 year end that previously obtained…Read More

Nearly all hospitals are prohibited by federal law from discriminating in employment based on race, color, sex, religion, ethnicity, disability and age.  Those that have certain types of federal contracts must go further by engaging in affirmative action.  Compliance with federal affirmative action laws is difficult and expensive, especially when audits are involved.  Unfortunately for…Read More

CMS Issues Proposed IPPS and LTCH Rule On April 30, CMS issued its hospital inpatient prospective payment system (“IPPS”) and long-term care hospital (“LTCH”) proposed rule for fiscal year 2015.  The overall payment update for fiscal year (“FY”) 2015 would be 1.3% for general acute care hospitals and 0.8% for LTCHs. 

Many employees are opting to work remotely today due to the efficiency and convenience of technology.  Nonetheless, when employers hire remote employees, employers must ensure continued compliance with Form I-9 requirements.

Executive Summary On April 16, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) released Report A-05-12-00020 entitled “Medicare and Beneficiaries Could Save Billions If CMS Reduces Hospital Outpatient Department Payment Rates For Ambulatory Surgical Center-Approved Procedures To Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Rates” (“Report”) – a Report title that is…Read More

Executive Summary On March 10, 2014, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy (“Board”) issued guidance regarding pharmacists’ “corresponding responsibility” in relation to the Medical Licensing Board’s new emergency rule concerning prescribing controlled substances for pain management treatment (“Rule“).1 The Board’s Corresponding Responsibility Guidance (“Guidance“)2 clarifies that the Rule does not place any new requirements on pharmacists…Read More

On April 22, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it reached settlements with two covered entities arising from alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy and Security Rules.  Both settlements involve the theft of unencrypted laptops and follow investigations in which the Office for Civil…Read More

During the recently concluded 2014 tax filing season, it appears that an unusually large number of health care professionals in Indiana, as well as several other states, were victims of an increasingly common form of identity theft: tax return refund fraud.  Even though the 2014 tax filing season has ended, all taxpayers, and especially health…Read More