Articles and Blogs

This Health Law News article is Part IV in a series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems:  Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.”  The full Report is available here.  Part I – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, Part II – Public and…Read More

The answer to that question now is YES, so long as that person is “qualified” for the job and the transfer isn’t an “undue hardship.” A significant change of course on competition for vacant positions as an ADA accommodation Reversing twelve years of decisions that allowed an employer to pick the best applicant for a vacancy…Read More

Recently, there have been several significant changes to Medicare’s therapy caps that will be effective on October 1, 2012.  Many of these changes are due to the enactment of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (the “Act”).  This article summarizes these changes to the therapy caps and the exception processes.

MedPAC Debates Hospital Readmissions; Necessity of Geographic Adjustments for Physicians On September 6-7, Congress’s Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”) held a meeting to discuss the hospital readmissions policy as well as the necessity of geographic adjustments for physicians. The MedPAC findings stated the readmissions policy is headed in the right direction but could be refined through maintaining or…Read More

On August 10, 2012, the Indiana Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Houser v. Kaufman and held that a woman could continue her claim against the physician who delivered her 35 years before she filed her claim. Stacy Kaufman filed a proposed medical malpractice claim against the estate of anonymous physician Dr. K in…Read More

This Health Law News article is Part III in a series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems:  Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.”  Part 1 – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, and Part II – Public and Private Scrutiny of Hospital and Health…Read More

Hall Render Meets with Stark Staff on Stark Law Reform Hall Render attorneys Gregg Wallander, John Williams and Andrew Coats met with several congressional staff members this week to discuss changes to the penalty provisions of the Stark Law.  Those meetings included discussions with staff from the Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means…Read More

Unemployment compensation and “Just Cause” for discharge – a really good decision for Indiana employers Today, August 31, 2012, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in favor of an employer who had discharged an employee for poor performance.  The Indiana Department of Workforce Development had previously awarded the employee unemployment compensation because the employer had failed to…Read More

Automatic meal period deductions – A common practice Some good news for employers.  In an important victory for employers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Frye v. Baptist Memorial Hospital, recently affirmed the decision of the Western District of Tennessee to decertify a collective action brought under the FLSA challenging an…Read More

On May 30, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced the Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes (Partnership) in order to transform the current focus of treatments and services provided to nursing home residents suffering from dementia and dementia-related illnesses. More specifically, this initiative promotes two goals: (1) resident-centered care;…Read More