Articles and Blogs

Following on the heels of similar efforts in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, the West Virginia Legislature passed CON legislation that exempts hospitals (inpatient services), ambulatory services and birthing centers from the need to obtain a CON. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice is expected to sign the bill into law. The City Council…Read More

The Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) recently announced that hospitals have until March 23, 2023, to object to the release of certain data related to COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) high-impact payments.  Although the scope of the release is limited, hospitals that do not respond by the deadline will be considered to have no…Read More

President Biden released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2024. The $6.9 trillion budget includes a number of health care and real estate proposals. In terms of health care proposals, Biden would like to make Affordable Care Act subsidies permanent, give federal health care agencies more power to negotiate drug pricing for high-value generic drugs,…Read More

A federal court recently held that Hurley Medical Center (“Hurley”) conducted an individualized inquiry and reasonably concluded that a nursing student intern’s accommodation request to bring her service dog with her as part of her clinical nursing rotation posed a direct threat jeopardizing the health and safety of patients and staff. The court also held…Read More

In an effort to not only establish a uniform standard for how U.S. Attorney Offices (“USAOs”) assess and credit voluntary self-disclosures but to also incentivize early and voluntary self-disclosure of corporate criminal misconduct, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has implemented a new Voluntary Self-Disclosure (“VSD”) Policy to be used by USAOs nationwide (the “Policy”). The…Read More

U.S. Senators proposed a bill that, if passed, would open the door to more physician-owned hospitals. The bill removes the Affordable Care Act’s ban on creating and expanding physician-owned hospitals. Georgia’s Senate passed a bill (which was previously highlighted in the 2/20/23 Briefing following the bill’s introduction) that exempts rural hospitals from the state’s Certificate…Read More

On February 10, 2023, the Office for Human Research Protections (“OHRP”) announced that the COVID-19 single institutional review board (“IRB”) exception determination will expire on May 11, 2023, consistent with the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“PHE”). With the expiration of the COVID-19 single IRB exception determination (the “COVID-19 Exception Determination”), research institutions…Read More

As required by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (“Sunshine Act”), by March 31, 2023, manufacturers of covered drugs, medical devices, biologicals and other medical supplies (“Applicable Manufacturers”), as well as applicable group purchasing organizations (“GPOs”), must report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) payments made and other investment interests given in 2022…Read More