The Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) has released the 2024 Statewide Health Care Facilities and Services Plan, along with a biennial inventory of all Connecticut health care facilities and services (the Plan)....more
UPDATED MAY 14, 2024 NOTE: The legislative session of the Connecticut General Assembly ended on May 8, 2024. The bills discussed in this blog did not pass. We will be monitoring new developments in the law regarding...more
Pullman & Comley’s annual review of significant case law affecting Connecticut health care providers summarizes a number of important decisions issued in 2023 by Connecticut state and federal courts. Among the highlights are...more
1/19/2024
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
CT Supreme Court ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Malpractice ,
Opinion Letter ,
Patients ,
Surprise Medical Bills ,
Tortious Interference ,
Unfair Trade Practices Act
On October 10, 2023, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a new temporary rule which extends, through December 31, 2024, the ability of ...more
10/24/2023
/ Controlled Substances ,
DEA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Prescribing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Temporary Regulations
Group medical practices in Connecticut and New York that are contemplating acquisitions, mergers or other significant transactions with third parties should pay close attention to new legal developments in these states....more
7/31/2023
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Business Ownership ,
Certificate of Need ,
Change of Ownership ,
Connecticut ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Merger Agreements ,
New York ,
Notice Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements
Since July 1, 2016, Connecticut has had a law (CGS §20-14p) which, among other things, places a one year and 15 mile restriction on all physician non-compete agreements. Effective July 1, 2023, the law has been revised...more
6/30/2023
/ Connecticut ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Nurses ,
Physician Assistants ,
Physicians
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) used its emergency waiver authority to relax many aspects of health care delivery during the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 (PHE) to allow health care...more
5/3/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Medicare ,
Patient Access ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Waivers
Significant health care cases of 2022 included a surprise billing unfair trade practices case, a class action recognizing a patient’s constitutionally protected interest in their inpatient classification and a ruling...more
1/31/2023
/ Connecticut ,
CUTPA ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Hospitals ,
Informed Consent ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Malpractice ,
Medical Records ,
Medicare ,
Patients ,
Surprise Medical Bills
Having learned some difficult lessons from the clinical shortages that have accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic, Connecticut’s General Assembly passed two important pieces of legislation last session to provide physicians with...more
Can a 40-year-old fraud and abuse law that compared to many others is relatively straightforward still get providers into trouble? Answer: You bet! In fact, in the first quarter of 2022 alone, the U.S. Attorney for the...more
4/19/2022
/ Best Practices ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
Medicare ,
OIG ,
Settlement Agreements
Befitting a year in which the lingering COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in almost every aspect of daily life, Pullman & Comley’s annual survey of notable health law cases from Connecticut’s trial and appellate courts makes...more
2/21/2022
/ AIDS ,
Certificate of Need ,
CT Supreme Court ,
Duty of Care ,
First Impression ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HIV ,
Judicial Review ,
Liability ,
Negligence ,
Physicians ,
Product Defects ,
Statutory Violations ,
Vicarious Liability
January 27, 2022 marks the deadline for Connecticut health facilities to have policies and procedures in place to satisfy federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) regulations mandating vaccines of their...more
1/31/2022
/ Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Connecticut ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Health and Safety ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The 2021 legislative session of the Connecticut General Assembly was a particularly busy one with dozens of important new statutes being enacted that will impact the health care industry. We’ve highlighted below some of the...more
9/27/2021
/ Admissions ,
Bias ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Controlled Substances ,
Cybersecurity ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Employee Training ,
Essential Workers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Marijuana ,
Medicaid ,
Negligent Credentialing ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting
Note: Public Act 21-133 was amended on July 7, 2021. The article below incorporates those amendments and replaces our prior post on this topic.
With the proliferation of new digital platforms and increasing consumer...more
The focus that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to nursing homes and similar facilities over the past year has created both an opportunity and a challenge for home health agencies (HHAs) throughout the country. Care in the...more
In an effort to ensure that Connecticut continues taking the most equitable and efficient approach to quickly administering the COVID-19 vaccine to as many people as possible, Governor Ned Lamont announced on February 21,...more
Connecticut residents over the age of 65 will be eligible to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments starting on Thursday, February 11, 2021, as the state rolls into the next part of phase 1b of its vaccination program....more
Plaintiff Cannot Cure Defective Malpractice Opinion Letter with an Affidavit Connecticut law requires that a plaintiff in a medical malpractice action demonstrate the existence of his or her good faith by obtaining a written...more
1/28/2021
/ Breach of Contract ,
Certiorari ,
CIGNA ,
Clawbacks ,
CT Supreme Court ,
Good Faith ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Medical Malpractice ,
Medicare Beneficiaries ,
Opinion Letter ,
Standard of Care ,
Telehealth
While much of the health care industry looks to put this year in the rear view mirror, planning ahead for Connecticut providers who treat Medicare beneficiaries requires taking stock of the recently issued Physician Fee...more
Doctors, nurses, hospitals and other health care providers, should know that the pandemic has not deterred federal or state authorities from prosecuting false claims, HIPAA and other types of enforcement actions in...more
11/4/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Distribution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Medicaid Reimbursements ,
Medicare Billing Privileges ,
OxyContin ,
Pain Management ,
PHI ,
Restitution
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many states issued guidance to hospitals and acute care providers about how to ration and allocate ventilators during the surge. ...more
In what promises to be a significant ruling, this week a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated several key aspects of the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act...more
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits health programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. ...more
In Executive Order 7UU, Governor Lamont ordered mandatory COVID-19 testing of all employees and staff at all private and municipal nursing homes, managed residential communities, and assisted living services agencies. These...more
6/5/2020
/ Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Executive Orders ,
Health and Safety ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Nursing Homes ,
Public Health ,
Sick Employees ,
State and Local Government ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On May 14, 2020, Deidre S. Gifford, the newly-appointed Acting Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, issued an Order reinstating the requirement that a request for collection or analysis of a COVID-19...more