PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act - More Relief for Plan Administrators
Recent Tenth Circuit Decision in John Q Hammons Fall Following SCOTUS’ Decision in Siegel v. Fitzgerald Could Result in Significant Refunds for Certain Chapter 11 Debtors
Nuts and Bolts of a Repayment Investigation: Keys to Conducting Investigations Under the 60-Day Repayment Rule
Hospice Audit Series: The Latest Developments and Strategies for Success in the Ever-changing Audit Landscape
In the context of Medicare Advantage (“MA”) reform initiatives, we previously addressed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) December 27, 2022 proposal to amend its regulations set forth at 42 C.F.R. §...more
The 60-day Refund Rule, created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, requires providers to report and return Medicare and Medicaid overpayments within 60 days of identifying them. See Section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act,...more
Recently, Optum Behavioral Health (“Optum,” the services division for UnitedHealth Group) has initiated overpayment recovery actions against numerous licensed clinical social workers (“LCSWs”) across the country for services...more
On February 1, 2023, CMS published its final rule addressing the Medicare Advantage (MA) Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) program. CMS uses RADV audits to identify whether Medicare made overpayments to MA plans by...more
On February 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Medicare Advantage (MA) Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) Program Final Rule (Final Rule), which will take effect on April 3, 2023. The...more
On February 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule strengthening their authority to recover alleged overpayments made to Medicare Advantage plans. The rule formalizes the Medicare...more
On December 27, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule which, in part, seeks to amend the existing regulations for Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D regarding the standard for when an...more
On December 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that contemplates several changes to, and clarifications of, guidance for the Medicare Advantage (MA) program in coverage year 2024....more
In a decision issued on September 30, Judge Andrew Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Anthem Inc.’s motion to dismiss a government lawsuit filed in March 2020 claiming Anthem...more
On June 21, 2022, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case of UnitedHealthcare Co., et al v. Becerra et al., Case No. 21-1140, wherein UnitedHealthcare attempted to overturn the D.C. Circuit Court’s revival of CMS’s...more
On August 13, the D.C. Circuit revived the CMS 2014 Medicare Advantage Overpayment Rule in deciding UnitedHealthcare Ins. Co. v. Becerra, a ruling that could have broad implications for Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers. See...more
In a unanimous opinion, the DC Circuit reversed a successful challenge brought by UnitedHealth (United) and other Medicare Advantage insurers to vacate a Medicare Advantage Overpayment Rule. The Overpayment Rule requires that...more
The D.C. Circuit Court overturned UnitedHealthcare’s victory in the lower court that resulted in vacatur of the Medicare Advantage 60-day overpayment rule (the Overpayment Rule). Last week, the D.C. Circuit Court held that...more
A common feature of False Claims Act (FCA) litigation is the pursuit of liability under the FCA’s so-called “reverse” false claims provision, 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(1)(G). Reverse false claims liability applies when a person or...more
Hospice Audits Series Audits are a fact of life for hospices—it’s not a matter of “if” a hospice will be audited, but “when.” The alphabet soup of audits has expanded, from UPICs to SMRCs, CPIs, TPEs and more. With the...more
In this week’s episode, Adam Cooper discusses the Supreme Court’s decision in Azar v. Allina Health Services, as well as a related memorandum issued in late 2019 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) that...more
The year 2019 was another active year in False Claims Act (FCA) investigations and litigation. Although the year lacked a singular blockbuster case, there were decisions of particular note. The Supreme Court clarified the...more
On October 31, 2019, the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an important memo from Kelly M. Cleary, CMS Chief Legal Officer, and Brenna E. Jenny, Deputy General...more
Health care attorneys have long questioned whether there are significant Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) risks associated with financial transactions between Medicare Advantage plans and their participating providers. An ongoing...more
The Medicare Advantage program, which allows private insurance companies to offer and administer Medicare benefits, continues to be an area of sharp scrutiny for False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement despite some significant...more
On April 12, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Sutter Health LLC—along with its affiliates Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation, Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation, Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, and Sutter...more
On December 11, 2018, the United States announced that it has elected to intervene in a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit filed against Sutter Health and its affiliated entity Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) alleging that...more
The Situation: In 2016, several Medicare Advantage ("MA") organizations challenged a 2014 final rule promulgated by the Center for Medicare Services ("CMS") that broadly subjected MA organizations to potential liability under...more
On October 26, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released for viewing a proposed rule that includes significant changes for Medicare Advantage organizations (“MAOs”), Part D prescription drug plan...more
A federal court decision to vacate regulations concerning “overpayments” to Medicare Advantage plans has left open questions about the way the government pays the insurers and pending cases brought by the U.S. Department of...more