Articles and Blogs

Union Fines Its Members for Crossing Picket Line When an employee joins a union, he or she becomes subject to the union’s bylaws and rules.  When those rules provide for fines and penalties for crossing a picket line, the result can be very costly for the employee who has not resigned from the union.  A…Read More

“Your leadership style is not in accordance with company practices.” This is what an HR Director was told when he was terminated after his company learned that he was “stressing out” two of his assistant HR managers.  The tense work environment that he created caused both managers to seek counseling and each had begun looking…Read More

The Meaningful Use Workgroup provided its recommendations on Meaningful Use Stage 3 to the Health IT Policy Committee on February 4.  Stage 3 would focus on improving outcomes.  Further discussion of the recommendations will be held on February 14.  The proposed timeline sets proposed rulemaking for fall 2014 and final rulemaking for the first half of 2015.  Stage…Read More

Executive Summary On February 6, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a final rule amending the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) to provide patients with the right to access test reports directly from clinical laboratories subject to HIPAA. …Read More

“Your leadership style is not in accordance with company practices.” This is what an HR Director was told when he was terminated after his company learned that he was “stressing out” two of his assistant HR managers.  The tense work environment that he created caused both managers to seek counseling and each had begun looking…Read More

Effective January 31, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has issued a temporary moratoria for the enrollment of home health agencies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Dallas, Texas; and Houston, Texas.  CMS also announced it is extending the current enrollment moratoria in Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida for another six months. …Read More

Are you a Physician-Owned Hospital? Have you submitted your Hospital’s annual ownership and investment interest reporting data? Do you know that Physician-Owned Hospitals have until March 1, 2014 to report ownership and investment information required by the Affordable Care Act?

CMS announced last week that it is extending the deadline for eligible professionals to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (“EHR”) Incentive Program 2013 reporting year from 11:59 PM ET on February 28, 2014 to 11:59 PM ET March 31, 2014.  This extension will allow more time for eligible professionals to submit their meaningful use…Read More

CMS Delays 2-Midnight Rule for Six Months Late on January 31, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced a further delay in the implementation of regulations known as the “2-Midnight Rule.”  As a result, Medicare Administrative Contractors (“MACs”) and other review contractors will not be permitted to perform post-payment “patient status reviews” of claims made…Read More

Recently, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”) recommended that Congress reduce or eliminate the Medicare reimbursement differences between hospital-based departments and freestanding physician practices for certain services.  If Congress enacts legislation based on this recommendation, hospitals could see a decrease in Medicare revenue of 0.6% or $1.1 billion per year.