Articles and Blogs

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently surveyed Americans on the state of their mental health. 90% of adults believe we are facing a mental health crisis. 80% of adults believe the cost of mental health care is a “big problem” for Americans. 51% of adults have a family member that…Read More

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a school district acted lawfully when it withdrew a teacher’s requested religious accommodation to call students by their last names instead of using transgender students’ preferred names or pronouns. The Court opined that the accommodation caused harm to transgender students, other students, and the educational environment…Read More

The Indiana General Assembly recently passed Senate Enrolled Act 7 (“SEA 7”), which will further restrict the enforceability of non-compete agreements between health care employers and their physician employees. After Governor Holcomb’s expected signature, SEA 7 will go into effect on July 1, 2023. This is not the first time the Indiana legislature has passed…Read More

On May 1, 2023, the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group at CMS issued a memorandum entitled “Guidance for the Expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE)” (the “CMS Memo”) which announced that certain regulations or other policies included in the Interim Final Rules during the public health emergency (“PHE”) will be modified with the ending…Read More

As the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll, the year 2020 ushered in declarations of a National Emergency (“NE”) and a Public Health Emergency (“PHE”). The PHE is set to expire on May 11, 2023. In addition, H.J. Res. 7 was signed by President Biden on April 10, which ends the NE on May 11, 2023…Read More

Kaiser Permanente has agreed to acquire PA-based Geisinger Health System. The combination, which still must pass federal and state regulatory scrutiny, would have more than $100B in revenue. Commercial landlords are contending simultaneously with a cyclical market downturn and reduced demand for office and retail space. The recent surge in interest rates has caused property…Read More

It’s time to reexamine the conventional wisdom that “not a good fit” should never be used to justify termination of employment, but only if that negative conclusion about the employee is sufficiently corroborated and is not a subterfuge for an employer’s unlawful motivation. A federal court of appeals just ruled that telling an employee that…Read More

Diversified Healthcare Trust (DHC) will merge with Office Properties Income Trust (OPI) in an all-stock transaction. DHC owns 379 health care properties valued at an estimated $7.1 billion. OPI owns 160 general office properties with a $577 million market cap. Optum is now in the business of providing loans to physician practice groups. This is another way Optum is…Read More