On September 13, 2020, the White House issued an Executive Order titled “Lowering Drug Prices by Putting America First” (the Executive Order), which directed the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services...more
9/17/2020
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Executive Orders ,
Medicare Part B ,
Medicare Part D ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Secretary of HHS ,
Trump Administration
On August 4, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its CY 2021 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule. CMS proposes to reduce OPPS payments for 340B drugs from...more
On July 31, 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has authority under the Social Security Act to reduce Medicare payment rates for...more
The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently issued a new Program Update that includes new covered entity registration and recertification requirements, as well as...more
Background On November 15, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule (Final Rule) that requires hospitals to establish, update and make public a list of their standard charges for items and...more
In light of recent civil unrest within the United States, which has been accompanied by incidents of property damage and large crowd actions, hospitals and healthcare facilities should consider reviewing and ensuring that...more
On May 11, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new suite of blanket waivers to ensure that healthcare facilities have the flexibility they need to treat patients during the Coronavirus...more
On April 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule (IFR) that made regulatory changes and clarified certain policies in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) public health...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued blanket waivers under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act (Section 1135 waivers) on April 30, 2020. Fast on the heels of a more modest waiver announcement on...more
5/7/2020
/ 1135 Waivers ,
CARES Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospice ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
OCR ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Relief Measures ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
After receiving approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on April 23, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a survey on April 24, 2020, to collect information on 340B hospitals’...more
On April 21, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Quality, Safety & Oversight memorandum QSO-20-27-Hospital (QSO Memo), addressed to state survey agencies to provide guidance to independent...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a fact sheet detailing flexibilities for Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During the national...more
On April 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Quality, Safety & Oversight memorandum QSO-20-24-ASC (the QSO Memo), addressed to state survey agencies to provide guidance on processing attestation...more
The updated waivers build upon the more limited set of Section 1135 waivers issued on March 13, 2020, and address common concerns among Medicare providers and suppliers as they deal with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic....more
4/1/2020
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Emergency Response ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicare ,
OCR ,
Physicians ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Waivers
Accelerated or advance Medicare payments can provide some cash flow as providers and suppliers combat the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This program requires a one-page application and funds may be available...more
The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General has created an information portal and established a process to provide guidance on the application of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Beneficiary...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expediting Medicare enrollment applications and allowing certain categories of practitioners to temporarily enroll in Medicare Part B to increase the number of healthcare...more
In the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, healthcare providers and suppliers will need to make decisions on how to ensure compliance with existing federal fraud and abuse laws while taking swift action to avoid...more
3/23/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
OIG ,
Public Health ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Remuneration ,
Waivers
On March 13, 2020, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act and made an emergency determination under the Stafford Act. This announcement follows the January 31, 2020,...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released several fact sheets on COVID-19 coverage and benefits, and announced a second Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code, U0002, for billing COVID-19...more
3/11/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Diagnostic Tests ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) ,
Medicare Part A ,
Medicare Part B ,
Medicare Part D ,
Physicians ,
Provider Payments
On February 7, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) published a notice signaling that it has submitted its previously published September 2019 proposed survey of hospital 340B drug costs for Office of...more
Hospitals and health systems are facing consumer demand for innovation, the need to expand and enhance streams of revenue and the push for improved quality, all while navigating changing regulations, federal enforcement,...more
2/6/2020
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
CMIA ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospitals ,
Medicare ,
No-Poaching ,
OCR ,
Popular ,
Ransomware
On January 27, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report concluding that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided limited oversight of the 340B and Medicaid Drug Rebate Programs,...more
2/5/2020
/ Audits ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Fee-for-Service ,
GAO ,
HRSA ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
Medicaid ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Section 340B
Less than two weeks into the new year, the federal government has released two new publications addressing concerns related to 340B Program oversight by both state and federal agencies. After a relatively quiet 2019, 340B...more
1/14/2020
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Fee-for-Service ,
GAO ,
Hospitals ,
HRSA ,
Medicaid ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Section 340B
A few days before Thanksgiving, the news media published an internal memo by the Office of General Counsel (OGC) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (Department) to officials at the Centers for Medicare and...more
12/6/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Azar v Allina Health Services ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Local Coverage Determination (LCD) ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part C ,
New Guidance ,
Notice and Comment ,
OGC ,
Overpayment ,
Provider Payments ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Security Act