Turning Radiation Oncology Challenges into Solutions: Kurt Sysock's RADformation
Staying Prepared: Hospices and the False Claims Act, Part 1 - What Will Hospices Face and What Can They Do About It
Podcast: Non-binding Guidance: Examining FDA’s Enforcement Authority Over Stem Cell Clinics and Compounders
Since being enacted in 2019, the New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying Act has had a threshold condition on a patient’s request for medication under the Act: that they be an “adult resident of New Jersey.” The physician’s record...more
In the world of radiation oncology, precision is paramount. Every millimeter matters when it comes to treating cancer patients with radiation therapy. But what happens when the very technology designed to save lives becomes a...more
...Emergency Savings Accounts and Distributions - Brief overview. As reported previously, SECURE 2.0 permits but does not require plans to add emergency savings accounts beginning with the 2024 plan year, but only...more
Last week, OIG released a report analyzing trends in the last decade relating to Medicare payments for hospice beneficiaries outside of the hospice per diem. In the report, OIG notes that CMS has taken the position that...more
Scientific advances in understanding how to manipulate genes to alter the course of disease are now starting to bear fruit. Cell and gene therapies will bring hope to those with conditions once thought to be incurable or...more
In this first episode of the Husch Blackwell Hospice Team’s 3-part “Hospice and the False Claims Act” series, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske, Bryan Nowicki, Jody Rudman and Brian Flood discuss how the False Claims Act (FCA)...more
Cancer is a horribly painful and debilitating illness, but would you ever call it “diabolical”? What about “conniving”? You might after you hear about the latest research out of Vanderbilt University showing that cancer cells...more
More than half of all cancer patients are treated with radiation therapy and may incur acute and chronic toxicities to normal tissue, leading to debilitating side effects. Researchers at the University of California-Irvine...more
Innovative technologies are being deployed to address the Western world’s major killer: cancer. Traditionally, cancer treatment has included surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, but recently, the development of targeted...more
Can you imagine needing a life-saving transplant and then having a family member, who is an exact donor match, denied entry into the U.S. for a medical procedure that could save your life? Or being denied your dying wish to...more
All hospice providers routinely should assess risk exposure under the False Claims Act — now with the benefit of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s long-awaited decision in United States v. AseraCare Inc. ...more
The 11th Circuit’s long-awaited AseraCare opinion requires more than mere disagreement regarding clinical judgment to prove falsity under the False Claims Act. The 11th Circuit rejected the government’s theory of falsity...more
On September 9, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit issued a highly anticipated opinion addressing the critical question of when Medicare claims for reimbursement (in this case, claims for hospice care) can be considered “false” under...more
On September 9, in a setback for AseraCare but an overall win for hospice providers, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Northern District of Alabama decision to grant a new trial in a False Claims Act (FCA) case against...more
The Eleventh Circuit agreed with the trial court that the government must do more than present expert evidence that a physician’s clinical judgment was inaccurate to establish falsity under the False Claims Act. Nonetheless,...more
In a long-awaited decision, the Eleventh Circuit concurred with the lower court’s standard for determining falsity under the False Claims Act (FCA) — reasonable disagreement between medical experts alone is not enough to...more
Big data and numbers may seem to drive the world these days, but human factors can play a dizzying role when it comes to statistics and medical treatments....more
More than two years after the Northern District of Alabama granted summary judgment in a False Claims Act (FCA) case in favor of AseraCare Inc., holding that “contradiction based on clinical judgment or opinion alone cannot...more
Medical ethicists and patient advocates are raising concerns about a big, costly, and often unsuccessful procedure that “pumps blood out of the body, oxygenates it, and returns it to the body, keeping a person alive for days,...more
In April 2019, the Maryland General Assembly passed House Bill 604/Senate Bill 646—Workers’ Compensation—Medical Presumptions for Diseases and Cancer —Eligibility (Firefighter Jesse McCullough’s Cancer Protection Law). The...more
With the FY 2020 proposed hospice rule, CMS proposes two material changes for hospice providers: • CMS proposes to shift approximately $500 million of hospice funding (2.7% of payments) from routine care to enhanced care...more
In its FY 2020 proposed hospice update, CMS proposes two changes of significant interest to providers: • Shifting $500 million of reimbursement from routine to enhanced care levels; and • Requiring providers to notify...more
A POLST (physician’s orders for life sustaining treatment) is a portable medical order, signed by a doctor, which contains the treatment wishes of an individual who is either seriously ill, or medically frail. The physician’s...more
On May 30, President Trump signed the Right to Try Act. The Act authorizes the use of experimental drugs without pre-approval or oversight by the Food and Drug Administration. Both the patient and the drug must meet certain...more
Often those with terminal illnesses wish to try new experimental therapies. Now they can if they are willing to accept the risks. On May 30, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Right to Try Act. The Act allows eligible...more