The American Relief Act, 2025, signed into law on December 21, included a short-term extension of certain telehealth waivers that went into effect in the early days of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. These waivers, for...more
1/17/2025
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
New Legislation ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Waivers
A November 25 article in Part B News, “Third-party biller fraud may hook your practice, unless you protect yourself,” discussed the federal government’s recent fraud investigation of a medical biller in New York State and...more
A recently issued federal court opinion confirmed that certain pre-COVID era prescribing restrictions are back in place. In July 2023, a nonprofit advocacy group, Community Oncology Alliance, filed suit against the U.S....more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on July 24 that Admera Health LLC, a New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical research and clinical laboratory testing company, agreed to pay $5,389,648 to resolve kickback allegations...more
The New York State 2024-2025 budget includes legislation that extends until July 1, 2026 the independent practice authority for certain qualified nurse practitioners with over 3,600 practice hours....more
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Silver Lake Hospital, a long-term care hospital in Newark, New Jersey, and some of its investors agreed to pay $30.6 million to settle claims that they violated the False...more
A recent Advisory Opinion (No. 23-15) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that a healthcare consulting company’s plan to offer gift cards to physician practices...more
The 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this month, extended certain telehealth-related flexibilities that were implemented during the early...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton, NJ announced on November 22 that primary care physician Yitzchok “Barry” Kurtzer of Monsey, NY, and his wife pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving kickbacks and bribes in exchange...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released two resource documents to help healthcare providers explain the privacy and security risks of telehealth to their patients....more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced on September 18 that cardiologist Klaus Peter Rentrop and his practice, Gramercy Cardiac Diagnostic Services, P.C., agreed to pay $6.5 million to...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued guidance entitled “Collecting, Using, or Sharing Consumer Health Information? Look to HIPAA, the FTC Act, and the Health Breach Notification Rule.” The guidance points out...more
The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) has announced that its third annual Telehealth Awareness Week will take place September 17-23, 2023. The official website for the event states:...more
On Thursday, September 14, in the next installment of Rivkin Radler’s Healthcare Compliance Lunch & Learn series, Rivkin Radler Partner Eric D. Fader will present an update on the regulatory landscape for the provision of...more
9/1/2023
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Dentists ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
PHI ,
Physicians ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Webinars
On August 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) published an Advisory Opinion warning that a common arrangement under which surgeons profit from referrals of their patients...more
New York State Attorney General Letitia James recently announced that the owner and manager of Santiago Pharmacy in Flushing, Queens, were indicted for paying kickbacks to Medicaid recipients in exchange for filling their HIV...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that Manasa Health Center in Kendall Park, New Jersey entered into a Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan to...more
On June 9, Steven Rodriguez, a former nurse from Long Beach, New York, was sentenced in federal court to 2-1/2 years in prison for selling at least 300 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards. Rodriguez and a co-conspirator from...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on May 8 that David Mente, a Pittsburgh psychotherapist, has paid $15,000 to settle a violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. OCR has been...more
The U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut announced on May 9 that Yale New Haven Health Services Corp. and Northeast Medical Group, Inc. have paid $560,718.48 to resolve federal and state False Claims Act...more
We’ll wrap up this edition of Fraud Week with a look at two Connecticut behavioral health providers, one bad and one very, very bad. First, Alicia Thompkins, a social worker from Hartford, pleaded guilty on April 27 to...more
Here’s a selection of recent healthcare frauds from New Jersey. On April 17, John Sher of Margate was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.77 million in restitution and $327,987 in forfeiture for defrauding...more
Transportation fraud isn’t new, but it’s new to Rivkin Rounds. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York recently announced that Yonkers resident Julio Alvarado was sentenced to 95 months in prison for...more
To celebrate the opening of Rivkin Radler’s first Florida office, we’ll cover some recent Florida frauds. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that two Miami residents, Dean Zusmer and Lawrence...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that it has brought criminal charges against 18 defendants across the U.S. for various fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOJ seized more than $16...more