On February 9, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $3.8 million settlement with Catholic Medical Center (CMC) of Manchester, New Hampshire. This settlement resolves allegations that CMC violated...more
On July 7, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-129 entitled “An Act Concerning Hospital Billing and Collection Efforts By Hospitals And Collection Agencies” (“the Act”)....more
On July 7, 2021 Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-135 (the “Act”). The Act, among other things, makes a revision to the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) statutes allowing DDS regional or...more
On May 10, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law “An Act Concerning Telehealth” (the “Act”). The Act extends, until June 30, 2023, many of the COVID-19 related telehealth expansions issued by Governor Lamont...more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice this week stating that it will not impose penalties for HIPAA non-compliance in connection with a covered entity health care provider’s or business associate’s good faith use...more
HHS Publishes Significant Updates to Anti-Kickback Statute Safe-Harbors and Beneficiary Inducement CMP Regulations -
On November 30 and December 2, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector...more
The Robinson+Cole Health Law Group is committed to examining and reporting on issues important to the health care and life sciences industries. Below are excerpts from our Health Law Diagnosis blog, where we post on fraud and...more
On June 30, 2020 the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) announced in a newsletter that the agency will prepare to resume the Certificate of Need (CON) application review process. This includes transitioning to...more
The Joint Commission (JC) announced Wednesday that it will resume its regular surveying and reviews beginning in June. The JC will identify and prioritize low-risk organizations, and organizations due for a survey can expect...more
On May 8, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule with comment period (the “Interim Rule”) in the Federal Register, setting forth additional regulatory waivers and other...more
On April 21, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that clinicians participating in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) can earn credit in the Merit-based Incentive payment system (MIPS) by...more
On April 9 and 10, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated and revised their COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) Billing....more
On April 1, 2020, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced a medical surge plan to address the state’s needs for responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency....more
On March 30th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued blanket waivers (Blanket Waivers) of sanctions under the federal physician self-referral law (Stark Law) to relax regulatory requirements related to...more
On March 23, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order (Executive Order) related to the COVID-19 public health emergency to ease regulatory requirements and expand the resources available to address the...more
In alignment with both New York and Massachusetts, earlier today Connecticut’s Commissioner of the Department of Public Health issued an order (Order) permitting physicians...more
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a fraud alert warning Medicare beneficiaries of potentially fraudulent schemes that take advantage of the fears surrounding the...more
Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel issued three new orders concerning the COVID-19 emergency. ...more
On March 18, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order (Executive Order) related to the COVID-19 public health emergency....more
The Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued guidance permitting DEA-registered practitioners to prescribe controlled substances without an in-person medical exam of the patient for the duration of the COVID-19 public...more
3/19/2020
/ Controlled Substances ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DEA ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medical Examinations ,
Patient Access ,
Pharmaceutical Distribution ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Relief Measures
On January 10, 2020, The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced new draft vertical merger guidelines for public comment. The draft guidelines (once finalized) will replace the DOJ’s 1984...more
1/29/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
New Guidance ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Mergers
On January 21, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $3 million settlement with Patient Services, Inc. (PSI) to resolve allegations of False Claims Act (FCA) violations. The DOJ alleged that PSI enabled three...more
1/29/2020
/ Co-payments ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Financial Assistance Policies ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Life Sciences ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Patients ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Settlement Agreements
On January 22, 2020, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont issued two health care related executive orders (Executive Order No. 5 and Executive Order No. 6) (the Executive Orders) to address the increasing health care costs in...more
On October 17, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published proposed rules to update the regulatory Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) safe-harbors and exceptions to the Physician Self-Referral (PSR) Law, known...more
10/23/2019
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Comment Period ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Healthcare Reform ,
OIG ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safe Harbors ,
Self-Referral ,
Stark Law
On September 5, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued OIG Advisory Opinion 19-04 ( Advisory Opinion). The Requestor asked OIG if providing an online healthcare...more
9/17/2019
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Algorithms ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Beneficiary Inducement ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Mobile Apps ,
OIG ,
Online Platforms ,
Pay-Per-Click ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Remuneration ,
Websites