Ever since the FDA approved advertisements for prescription drugs on television, pharmaceutical companies have been heavily relying on them and collectively represent the third highest spender of any industry in national TV...more
11/1/2018
/ Advertising ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Commercial Speech ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Drug Pricing ,
First Amendment ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Rules ,
Television Commercials
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has sent a clear message that individuals cannot hide behind the corporate shield in its recent settlement with Med-Fast Pharmacy, Inc. and the charges brought against its associated...more
Opioid addiction and abuse has exploded into a national epidemic. Every three weeks, America faces a death toll equivalent to the September 11th attacks due to drug overdoses, 75 percent of which are from opioid use. ...more
Providers participating in the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program now have an additional thirteen days to register and attest to meeting the meaningful use requirements for 2016. The Centers for...more
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) recently issued a new advisory opinion finding that free introductory visits (the “Introductory Visits”) for patients offered by a home health...more
President Obama has signed the “doc fix” into law, which permanently avoids a 21% pay cut for physicians that was slated to take effect this April. The law received broad bipartisan support, passing in the House of...more
Reporting Deadline for HIPAA Breaches – March 1, 2015 – Did you have a HIPAA breach this year involving less than 500 individuals? If so, the deadline to report such a breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human...more
Good Shepherd Hospice, Inc., a for-profit hospice providing services in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (“Good Shepherd”), has agreed to pay $4 million to the U.S. government to settle allegations that it submitted...more
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) to reform the hospice payment system, collect data relevant to revising hospice payments and develop quality...more
The Open Payments database (the “Database”) is now live, and the first round of data is available to the public on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) website. This first round of data reflects “nearly 4.4...more
2019 Medicare Budget Reduced by $95 Billion –
The New York Times is reporting that the projected Medicare budget for 2019 is $95 billion less than the projected budget for 2019 four years ago. According to the...more
Survey of ACA Navigators Finds 10.6 Million People Sought Enrollment Help —
In a survey released this week, the Kaiser Family Foundation (“Kaiser”) estimates that approximately 10.6 million people received assistance...more
7/18/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Bribery ,
Burwell v Hobby Lobby ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Halifax Hospital ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Healthcare ,
Kaiser Permanente ,
Medicare ,
Physicians ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblowers
News from the Health Law Gurus™ is a weekly summary of notable health law news from around the country with helpful links to related content. ...more
5/19/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
OIG ,
Proposed Regulation
Were you worried that your physician pay rate would plummet come March 31 due to Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (“SGR”) formula? You can stop pulling out your hair, at least until next year. On April 1, 2014, President...more
Every payment you take, every claim you make, someone will be watching you. No, we don’t mean Sting. We mean all the consumers and businesses that will have greater access to physician billing information now because today...more
Last week, the United States settled with a Baltimore ophthalmologist for alleged violations of the False Claims Act (“FCA”). Pursuant to the settlement, the ophthalmologist, Dr. John Arthur Kiely, agreed to pay $1.4 million...more