The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued CMS Advisory Opinion No. CMS-AO-2025-1 on February 26, 2025, blessing the relocation of a physician-owned hospital. The hospital planned to relocate eight miles from...more
Under the CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule, CMS proposes several modifications to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) that would become effective in performance year 2025. CMS also proposed...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed to extend a number of COVID-era regulatory flexibilities related to telehealth, remote services, and supervision in the CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)...more
7/30/2024
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Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
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Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Substance Abuse ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
In a settlement larger than Halifax and Tuomey combined, an Indianapolis-based health system recently settled with the Department of Justice for $345 million to resolve Stark Law and False Claims Act allegations relating to...more
After more than three years, the Public Health Emergency (PHE) related to COVID-19 is scheduled to end on Thursday, May 11, 2023. The PHE declaration under the Public Health Service Act has allowed the Secretary of the...more
Following the comment period that ended on August 8, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently finalized changes to the Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP) for physician practices to disclose...more
On January 1, 2023, Medicare began paying for services provided at Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs), a newly created provider type established to preserve access to emergency health care in rural areas and avert closure of...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) enacted on December 29, 2022, decoupled the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement from the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), effective March 31, 2023.1 While CMS guidance...more
This past week, President Biden issued a Statement of Administration Policy announcing an intention to end both the Public Health Emergency (PHE) and the National Emergency declarations on May 11, 2023. While the...more
On January 11, 2023, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra again renewed the declaration of a Public Health Emergency (PHE) under the Public Health Service Act, extending the declaration...more
In one of the final advisory opinions of 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) took a broad view that a hospital's provisions of care by nurse practitioners to patients of...more
On November 1, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Calendar Year 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule, which includes changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), the nation's...more
On July 7, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Calendar Year (CY) 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule that includes changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to advance...more
On June 9, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) solicited comments to proposed changes to the Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP) for physician practices disclosing group practice noncompliance....more
On July 15, 2022, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra again renewed the declaration of a Public Health Emergency (PHE) under the Public Health Service Act, averting a July 15, 2022,...more
The declared Public Health Emergency (PHE) under the Public Health Service Act will apparently be renewed at least one further time beyond its current July 15, 2022 expiration, as the Department of Health and Human Services...more
On April 12, 2022, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra again renewed the declaration of a Public Health Emergency (PHE) under the Public Health Service Act, averting an April 16, 2022...more
After two years, a multitude of factors are pointing toward the end of the formal public health emergency declaration, related emergency declarations, and associated waivers in connection with COVID-19, including declining...more