August Fast Break Recap – CMS Telehealth and RPM Updates
We hosted a very informative Fast Break session last month on CMS telehealth and RPM updates. If you weren't able to join us, the session was led by healthcare litigation associates Jake Harper and...
View ArticleHow Does Climate Change Affect the Healthcare Industry?
The US Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the establishment of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). Noting that the OCCHE is “the first office of its kind at...
View ArticleFTC Votes to Rescind Vertical Merger Guidelines, No Replacement Announced
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently voted to withdraw its approval of the Vertical Merger Guidelines (the 2020 VMGs), which, as we covered in the past, the FTC and Department of Justice...
View ArticleSeptember Fast Break Recap: Vaccine Mandates – Latest Developments and Best...
In our latest Fast Break session and on the heels of recent announcements from the Biden-Harris administration and the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) granting of full authorization for the...
View ArticleCMS Relaunches Hospice TPE Audits with Long-Stay General Inpatient Reviews
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it had restarted the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) audit process, effective September 1, 2021. More recently, the Medicare...
View ArticleMA Audit: Hospices Unaware of Dual Eligibles Medicaid Filing Rule, Causing...
The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently transmitted a memorandum to the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services detailing the findings of the...
View ArticleBeware of Biometrics: Complying with Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act
Biometrics are physical or behavioral human characteristics that can be used to digitally identify a person to grant access to systems, devices, or data. Examples of biometric identifiers are...
View ArticleNovember Fast Break Recap: Compliance Topics for Healthcare Professionals...
Last month, we had an engaging Fast Break session covering compliance topics regarding healthcare professionals’ relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. We were joined by...
View ArticleOIG Planning Nationwide Audit of Hospice Eligibility – What You Should Know
The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently announced its Office of Audit Services plans to conduct a nationwide review of hospice eligibility, focusing on those Medicare hospice beneficiaries...
View ArticleDOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative Borrows a Statute the Health Industry...
The new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative of the US Department of Justice’s use of the punitive False Claims Act (FCA) and its whistleblower provisions has some important legal and risk management...
View ArticleNo Surprises Act Requires Good-Faith Estimates and Balance Billing Protections
As its name suggests, the No Surprises Act establishes patient protection against most surprise medical bills from out-of-network, emergency service, and air ambulance providers. Two of the major...
View ArticleNew Legislation Aims to Upgrade HIPAA to Account for New Healthcare Technologies
On February 9, 2022, US Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced bipartisan legislation designed to modernize health privacy laws, including the Health Insurance...
View ArticleTexas Court Strikes Down Part of Federal Surprise Billing Rules
A federal judge in Texas held on February 23 that the federal government’s interim final rule implementing the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process established by the No Surprises Act...
View ArticleFebruary Fast Break Recap: Risk Adjustment and Liability
Last month, we had an engaging Fast Break session covering the growing importance of risk adjustment in various health insurance programs and novel government theories of liability associated with...
View ArticleOIG Launches New Resource Page Featuring Telehealth
Perhaps signaling the increasing likelihood of a permanent telehealth solution for the Medicare program, the Office of Inspector General for the US Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) has...
View ArticleDOJ Announces New COVID-19 Fraud Takedown – But Will It Expand Enforcement to...
Fraud stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a criminal enforcement priority for the US Department of Justice (DOJ). On April 20, DOJ announced a new round of criminal charges against 21...
View ArticleAntitrust Enforcers Rachet Up Scrutiny of Private Equity and Labor Issues in...
Federal antitrust enforcers at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continue to take an aggressive stance in healthcare. Two recent developments underscore the trend.
View ArticleAll Quiet on the PHE Front: Extension Likely After HHS 60-Day Deadline Comes...
The federal COVID-19 public health emergency’s (PHE) current expiration date is just one week away—July 14, 2022. While no official extension has been issued by the Biden-Harris administration yet, it...
View ArticleOIG Issues Telehealth Special Fraud Alert on the Heels of DOJ Takedown
The recent increase in use of telehealth as a care modality has been important to patients and providers alike, with significant benefits for public health. However, with the growing mainstream...
View ArticleGroundhog Day? HHS Silence Indicates PHE Extension to Come
Is the COVID-19 pandemic making you feel a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Although most parts of life have returned to the "new normal," the federal government remains in a seemingly endless...
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