Articles and Blogs

House Votes to Defund ACA The U.S. House voted this morning (230-189) to attach a permanent defunding of the health care law to a continuing resolution (“CR”) spending bill.  The spending bill (H.J. Res. 59) would fund the federal government for a limited time and also block all federal funds for the 2010 Affordable Care…Read More

On September 13, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a Medical Learning Network Letter (“Letter”) addressing new guidance for meeting the annual reporting requirements for physician-owned hospitals.1  The Letter affects hospitals with physician ownership and/or investors wishing to rely on the whole hospital or rural provider exception to the Stark Law…Read More

HIPAA Violation Was a Pretext A hospital employee’s violation of patient privacy as protected by HIPAA is a serious matter.  An intentional violation can and should lead to discipline up to and including discharge.  But a case that was decided by the NLRB is an object lesson for health care employers on what is and what…Read More

The Eighth Circuit’s recent decision adds to a growing body of case law rejecting FCA relator allegations of regulatory noncompliance as the basis for FCA claims. It reinforces the position that when health care providers reasonably interpret complicated and confusing billing guidelines and regulations, they cannot violate the FCA.

 House Releases Plan to Extend Federal Funding to December 15 On September 10, the House Appropriations Committee released the text of a stopgap funding bill that would extend this year’s spending level for federal programs through December 15. The extension would give Congress time to work out a larger fiscal package before the end of the…Read More

FCC Form 460 (Eligibility and Registration Form) is now available for use by health care providers (“HCPs”) to certify their eligibility to participate in the Healthcare Connect Fund (“HCF”) program. One form must be completed for each site. This includes each eligible HCP site, ineligible site, off-site data center and off-site administrative office. All individual HCPs, consortia…Read More

When EEOC’s Statistics Are Unreliable – Case Fails For many employers, conducting a criminal history or credit record check on a potential employee is a rational and legitimate component of a reasonable hiring process.  This is how a federal district court judge started his opinion that went on to rake the EEOC over the coals for using…Read More

Sports Analogy Can Have Multiple Meanings In sports, a coach will sometimes tell a player to just “walk it off” or “push through” the pain when a minor injury happens in a game or in practice.  One Florida insurance company found out that the world of sports and the world of employment are not the…Read More

Two Courts Deny Rehearing – NLRB Exceeded Its Jurisdiction The battle over the NLRB’s Employee Rights Poster seems to be coming to an end.  The poster that the NLRB intended to be posted by private employers to inform their employees of their rights to join unions came under legal challenge and subsequent delays almost as…Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is set to hear oral arguments this week in Verizon v. FCC. At issue is “net neutrality” and to what extent the FCC is allowed to regulate Internet traffic. The case is the latest stage in a long-running legal battle over the idea that Internet providers…Read More