Articles and Blogs

In the near future, Regional Home Health Intermediaries (RHHIs) and Parts A and B Medicare Administrative Contractors (A/B MACs) will be contacting home health agencies (HHAs) that have previously submitted claims for ordered or referred services using a group name and national provider identifier (NPI).  HHAs will be informed they should begin submitting such claims…Read More

Pregnant Employee with 10 Pound Lifting Restriction – What to Do? Is it unlawful discrimination for an employer to place a pregnant part-time merchandise stocker with a 10-pound lifting restriction on an involuntary unpaid leave? In this recent case decided by the Seventh Circuit, the Court said “No“. . . there was no unlawful discrimination…Read More

Chairman Camp Tells Hall Render Stark Law Reform Still Possible This Year In a conversation held on Capitol Hill Tuesday evening, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) told Hall Render Federal Legislative and Regulatory Affairs attorney John Williams that health care fraud and abuse law reform is not completely off the table…Read More

On July 23 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm EST, National eHealth Collaborative will host Robert Anthony of the Office of E-Health Standards and Services at CMS to give tips and tricks in a second program in the series on how to achieve Meaningful Use Stage 1.  In this program, Robert will address hot topics and frequently asked…Read More

Federal regulations are an enormous morass of complex, confusing, and often contradictory rules. The 2009 Code of Federal Regulations was 163,333 pages in 226 individual books.  The 2010 Federal Register, which contains new regulations proposed rules, and presidential papers, contained an additional 81,305 pages.  Intended as a roadmap, providing guideposts and requirements for dealing with…Read More

ONC has announced accreditation of 5 certification bodies and test laboratories to certify and test Electronic Health Records technology in the ONC Permanent Certification Program.

Recently a new and unique “legal” source has been popping up in litigation. As you may know, Wikipedia is a collaborative online encyclopedia and according to a January 29, 2007, Article from The New York Times, “more than 100 judicial rulings have relied on Wikipedia, beginning in 2004, including 13 from Circuit Court of Appeals,…Read More

On July 6, 2012, the FCC issued an order in which it indicated that it would likely issue revised regulations for the Universal Service Fund (USF). Specifically, within Docket 02-06 the FCC has been entertaining comments regarding reform to the USF in the following three areas:

Electronic Health Record (EHR) Implementations are complex and challenging. Even after substantial preparation, due diligence and physician commitment, implementations do fail. If you are struggling with an EHR implementation, here are four action items to help you navigate the storm:

The EEOC keeps track of what it’s doing.  Fiscal year statistics of filings in the various categories of discrimination show what’s trending in the most active areas of “interest” for employees and the EEOC. With that in mind, employers often find it helpful to stay on top of trends in those charges.