On February 5, 2026, the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) published proposed amendments to its Material Change regulations at 958 CMR 7.00 (the Proposed Amendments). Among other things, the Proposed Amendments...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, HR 7148 (the Act), just signed into law on February 3, 2026, ended a brief government shutdown and includes multiple provisions with a critical impact on health care organizations....more
2/26/2026
/ Attestation Requirements ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Medicare ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements
On February 3, 2026, President Trump signed HR 7148, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026” (the Act) ending the 4-day partial government shutdown. The Act, part of a broader fiscal year (FY) 2026 spending package,...more
2/4/2026
/ Appropriations Bill ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Shutdown ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicare ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Trump Administration
February 16, 2026, is the deadline for each HIPAA covered entity to update its Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) to incorporate new regulatory requirements enacted in 2024. Specifically, HIPAA-covered entities (including...more
2/3/2026
/ Covered Entities ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
New Regulations ,
Notice of Privacy Practices ,
Notice Requirements ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
Privacy Policy ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Substance Abuse
Healthcare providers are currently facing yet another termination of Medicare telehealth flexibilities at the end of the day on January 30, 2026, unless Congress acts on proposals to further extend the COVID-era flexibilities...more
1/30/2026
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospice ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reimbursements ,
Rural Health Care Providers ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
On December 31, 2025, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) extended current regulatory flexibilities related to tele-prescribing of controlled substances for another year. The DEA issued a fourth temporary...more
On November 12, 2025, President Trump signed H.R. 5371 the “Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs and Extensions Act, 2026” (the Act). The Act ended the...more
Healthcare providers are again confronted with the potential termination of telehealth services unless Congress acts to extend the Medicare flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. If no legislative action is...more
On September 10, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed an appeal of the federal court ruling vacating key provisions of the HIPAA reproductive health care regulations, which appears to signal the end...more
On July 14, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the calendar year (CY) 2026 physician fee schedule (PFS) proposed rule, which in pertinent part proposes several changes affecting the delivery and...more
On June 30, 2025, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act No. 25-168 (PA 25-168) (the Act), Connecticut’s Budget Bill for the period between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2027. The Act includes two new laws...more
On June 30, 2025 Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill implementing the state budget through June 30, 2027, Public Act No. 25-168 (PA-168). PA-168, among other things, contains changes to the state’s Certificate of...more
On June 11, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 25-03 (the Advisory Opinion), in which OIG approved of a proposed arrangement under which a management...more
6/18/2025
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Digital Health ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
OIG ,
Online Platforms ,
Safe Harbors ,
Telehealth
On June 9, 2025, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act No. 25-28, “An Act Concerning Access to Reproductive Health Care” (the Act). The Act codifies under Connecticut state law the ability of minors to...more
On May 22, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took a series of actions to promote enhanced price transparency compliance by hospitals and identify challenges thereto, in order to inform future price...more
On April 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion upholding the formula the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) utilized to calculate Medicare hospitals’ disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment...more
5/7/2025
/ Appeals ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Government Agencies ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Reimbursements ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Security Benefits ,
Statutory Interpretation
On March 14, 2025, as part of a spending bill to avert a federal government shutdown, Congress extended COVID-era telehealth “waivers” applicable to Medicare until September 30, 2025. These were originally scheduled to end...more
On March 3, 2025, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed a law establishing a new process for hospitals in bankruptcy to apply for an “emergency certificate of need” (CON) to approve a transfer of ownership. The law, titled...more
3/5/2025
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Certificate of Need ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Connecticut ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government
On February 25, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Making America Healthy Again by Empowering Patients with Clear, Accurate, and Actionable Healthcare Pricing Information” (the 2025 Order). The...more
2/28/2025
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Price Transparency ,
Trump Administration
Massachusetts has expanded regulatory oversight of health care transactions by imposing False Claims Act liability on health care owners and investors for changes including failure to disclose violations. On January 8, 2025,...more
Under a new 2025 law, Massachusetts is one of the first in the nation to broaden its state False Claims Act (FCA) to require disclosures by investors and owners of health care entities. On January 8, 2025, Governor Maura...more
At the close of 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the Proposed Rule) to amend the Security Rule regulations established...more
In November 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published the results of its audit assessing hospital compliance with the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule (HPT Rule)....more
As part of its 2025 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (PFS Rule), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized two crucial updates to federal Medicare overpayments regulations (sometimes referred to as the...more
In a highly anticipated decision on an issue facing courts across the country, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in late October that Massachusetts hospitals’ use of online tracking technologies that collect and...more