Articles and Blogs

This Health Care Tax News article is Part II in a series discussing the Proposed Regulations under Code Section 501(r).  The previous installment provided a general overview of the Proposed Regulations and addressed their applicability to “Hospital Organizations” and “Hospital Facilities” and can be accessed by clicking here.  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…Read More

This Health Care Tax News article is Part I in a series discussing the Proposed Regulations under Code Section 501(r). While the health care industry has been awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has been proceeding with its efforts…Read More

The Seventh Circuit, which covers Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, recently ruled that a bank’s alleged bias against one of its managers based on the immigration status of the manager’s husband is not actionable under Title VII.  (In other words, Title VII doesn’t cover discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status.)  In affirming the lower court’s…Read More

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