Articles and Blogs

On December 26, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it reached a settlement with a Massachusetts dermatology practice (“Physician Practice”) stemming from alleged violations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule. The settlement follows an investigation by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) upon receiving…Read More

Executive Summary On December 27, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published final rules that amend regulations commonly known as the “EHR Donation Regulations.”  The EHR Donation Regulations consist of an exception to the physician self-referral law (Stark) (42 CFR 411.357(w)) and a safe harbor to…Read More

Regulations to extend the exception from the Stark Law and safe harbor from the Anti-Kickback Statute for the donation of electronic health records (“EHRs”) have been cleared by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) and will be published on December 27.  The relevant provisions of the amendments are: (1) the exception/safe harbor for EHR…Read More

Bipartisan Stark Law Correction Bill Introduced On Monday, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced H.R. 3776, a bill to correct the disproportionate penalties a hospital can incur under the Stark Law for having an unwritten, unsigned or lapsed agreement that is otherwise compliant with federal fraud and abuse law. The Hall…Read More

Windows and Sinks and Employee Complaints  Employees have a right to complain about a lot of things, including windows and sinks.  When they join together to complain, an employer needs to make sure that those complaints are not factors in the decision to fire the complaining employees.  In this NLRB case, a hospital fired a CT…Read More

Master Financing Agreements are a great financing tool for everyone considering tax-exempt financing and are now available in Indiana.  On December 19, 2013, the Indiana Finance Authority (the “IFA”) authorized a turn-key Master Financing Agreement program (the “MFA Program”).  MFA Programs are also available in other states and in some cases may be implemented with local…Read More

As 2013 winds to a close, some Indiana hospitals already have completed their first Community Health Needs Assessments (“CHNAs”) and related Implementation Strategies required under the Affordable Care Act, while others are putting the finishing touches on those documents.  Although the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has clarified what most tax-exempt Hospital Organizations must do to…Read More

A bipartisan bill (H.R. 3776) to correct the disproportionate nature of the penalties a hospital can incur for technical violations of the Stark Law was introduced in the House of Representatives on Monday by Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA). The measure was drafted with assistance from attorneys at Hall, Render, Killian, Heath and Lyman. Ways and Means…Read More

Executive Summary Under the federal Stark Law, hospitals may provide non-monetary compensation to physicians up to an aggregate amount of $385 for calendar year 2014.  The dollar limit for “medical staff incidental benefits” (e.g., meals, parking, other items or incidental services that are used on the hospital’s campus) remains at less than $32 per occurrence. …Read More