Articles and Blogs

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.    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued additional guidance regarding the essential health benefits…Read More

On March 5, 2012, the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) issued a new Program Notice (“Notice”) that provides additional insight into the recent audits of entities participating in the 340B Program (“Covered Entities”).  The Notice, which HRSA characterizes as a restatement of current policy, represents the clearest public statement to date of HRSA’s 340B…Read More

On Monday, March 5th, the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) issued its long-awaited report, “Financial Impact of Breached Protected Health Information” (http://webstore.ansi.org/phi/).  The Report provides a good summary of the current state of health data privacy and security in the U.S., HIPAA legislative history, and some potential measures that can be taken to strengthen the protection of…Read More

The Health Information Technology: Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology, 2014 Edition; Revisions to the Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology  Proposed Regulations were published in their official version in today’s Federal Register.  Although these proposed regulations have been available in the unpublished format, the publication in the Federal Register…Read More

The Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program—Stage 2 Proposed Regulations were published in their official version in today’s Federal Register.  Although these proposed regulations have been available in the unpublished format, the publication in the Federal Register begins the time period for submitting comments to the proposed regulations.  All comments to these…Read More

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the ADAAA regulations, we have caught only a glimpse of the true effect of these legal changes. We have seen a string of multi-million dollar settlements from the EEOC involving class disability claims, culminating in Verizon’s payout of $20 million for an allegedly “illegal” and “inflexible” no-fault attendance…Read More

On February 27, 2012 the FCC requested comment on whether to fund Universal Service Fund (USF) Rural Health Care Pilot Program participants who will exhaust funding allocated to them before or during the funding year 2012 (July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013).  This funding would maintain support for qualifying Pilot Program Participants on an interim basis,…Read More

On March 2, 2012, the enforcement provisions of the NLRB’s Notice of Employee Rights posting rule were struck down by a federal district court for the District of Columbia.  The ruling let stand the overall requirement that private employers must post a Notice of Employee Rights prescribed by the NLRB on and after April 30,…Read More

On February 29, 2012, a federal judge lifted a temporary restraining order that had stopped the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) from enforcing the Immediate Suspension Order (“ISO”) it issued to Cardinal Health (“Cardinal”), a drug wholesale distributor, on February 3, 2012.  The ISO restricts Cardinal’s license to distribute controlled substances from its Lakeland, Florida distribution…Read More

On Thursday, February 2, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued in the Federal Register its decision not to propose changes to the current Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (“EMTALA”) regulations.  However, in this notice CMS is seeking additional comments on the applicability of hospitals with specialized capabilities to accept transfers…Read More