Articles and Blogs

This Thursday, June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court will decide the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.” In so doing, it may also make significant changes in one of the newest and most complicated amendments the False Claims Act, with results that are almost impossible to predict. In…Read More

Supreme Court Decision Due Next Week The U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of opinions on June 18 and June 21 but did not release the health care ruling.  Monday is the last official opinion day on the court calendar, though it appears the court could hand down additional rulings as late as next Thursday…Read More

Today, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) announced that it is extending its review of the final regulations arising from the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”).  Based on regulatory timeframes, these regulations were expected to be released no later than today.  The regulations have been long-awaited and will cover…Read More

The 2011 Form 990, Schedule K has added a question asking whether or not written procedures have been adopted to ensure violations are timely identified and corrected through the IRS’s Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (“VCAP”) if self-remediation is not available.  See our February 2012 Summary of 2011 Schedule K changes, here.  As this question is…Read More

Pleading a False Claims Act case can be a tricky exercise, and in defending an FCA case, it is important to know just what the rules are for a whistleblower, and how they can fail to meet them. One of the most common mistakes made by whistleblowers is failing to “plead fraud with particularity,” a requirement that…Read More

On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) released new guidance related to the current ongoing 340B Program covered entity audits (“340B Audit Guidance”). Although this guidance is consistent with other related audit information communicated verbally and in writing by HRSA, it does provide additional clarity regarding the pre-audit, onsite audit…Read More

Summary On June 15, 2012, the Director of the Survey and Certification Group of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum (“Memo”) to state survey agency directors instructing them to hold off on enforcing a recently revised hospital governing body condition of participation (“CoP”) requiring the governing body of each hospital…Read More

The NLRB’s requirement that most private employers post a notice of employee rights was struck down by the courts.  But in doing a work around, the NLRB has established a webpage that specifically deals with “Protected Concerted Activity”. A Map Tells the Stories The page tells the stories of more than a dozen recent cases involving…Read More

Stark Rejects Calls to Waive Anti-Fraud Laws Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) made clear this week that he will oppose any effort to relax federal health care fraud and abuse laws, including the law that bears his name. Physician advocacy groups have recently called on Congress to relax anti-fraud laws as a way to entice doctors…Read More

This installment of Hall Render’s Health Law Broadcast series on health care reform is designed to provide you with the insight, analysis and practical suggestions with respect to the various reform initiatives that will affect your organization. On May 11, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”)…Read More