On August 7, 2022, the U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes some of the most significant drug pricing-related changes since the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement...more
8/10/2022
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Drug Pricing ,
Enforcement ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Drug Rebate Program ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part B ,
Medicare Part D ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Rebates ,
Secretary of HHS
Litigation involving drug price reporting under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP) has been very active in 2022. Most recently, on August 3, 2022, an Illinois federal jury levied a $61 million verdict against Eli...more
8/5/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Funding ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Drug Rebate Program ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Section 340B
The July 20, 2022 Special Fraud Alert describes findings from what OIG describes as “dozens of investigations of fraud schemes involving companies that purported to provide telehealth, telemedicine, or telemarketing services”...more
7/29/2022
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Liability ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Durable Medical Equipment ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
OIG ,
Risk Alert ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
Millions of women use reproductive health applications (or “apps”) to track menstrual cycles, ovulation, and pregnancy. These apps provide women that use the rhythm method for birth control and women seeking to become...more
7/19/2022
/ Abortion ,
Business Associates ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HITECH Act ,
Mobile Apps ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Sensitive Personal Information ,
State Privacy Laws ,
Technology Sector
Can human reproductive tissue (“HRT”) held by a fertility clinic serve as collateral for a loan to (or investment in) the fertility clinic? In short, the scope and extent of governmental regulation addressing the sale of or...more
7/15/2022
/ Article 9 ,
Collateral ,
Consideration ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Organ Donation ,
Organ Transplant Centers ,
Perfected Security Interest ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Secured Debt ,
State and Local Government ,
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed into law the $1.5 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 (the “Omnibus Bill”). Included in the 2,700+ page Omnibus Bill is an extension of Medicare coverage of professional...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced that over $5.6 billion in False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlements and judgments had been reached during the 2021 fiscal year, with over $5 billion of those settlements...more
3/8/2022
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Health ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Technology ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Devices ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Private Equity ,
Telehealth
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“PHE”) fundamentally changed the healthcare industry, forcing healthcare providers and patients onto their computers and phones to enable continuation of care when patients were mandated...more
2/23/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Digital Health ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Beneficiaries ,
Mental Health ,
Physicians ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Reimbursements ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
On December 20, 2021, a group of emergency medicine physicians in California filed suit against a private equity-backed health care services company, claiming that (among other things), the company has run afoul of the...more
On January 11, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed National Coverage Determination (NCD) decision memo limiting Medicare coverage for Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm. Under...more
On October 28, a majority of members on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15-7 to advance to the full Senate a bipartisan bill that would make a number of amendments to the False Claims Act (“FCA”), including one that...more
After several years without any enforcement, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently penalized medical device and life sciences companies for violating the U.S. Provider Payments Sunshine Act (“Sunshine Act”) (42...more
11/5/2021
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Failure to Report ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Devices ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Physician-Owned Distributors ,
Physicians ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sunshine Act
Telehealth’s exponential growth –in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic – has highlighted both its value in increasing access to care and the potential for misuse. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of...more
In 2016, states began passing pharmaceutical price reporting laws. These laws are designed to bring transparency to a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s drug pricing process by requiring drug manufacturers to report pricing and...more
In 2016, states began passing pharmaceutical price reporting laws. These laws are designed to bring transparency to a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s drug pricing process by requiring drug manufacturers to report pricing and...more
Laboratory tests play a critical part of the healthcare system. Ordering and billing for these tests, however, is not always cut-and-dry. Compliance with federal laws and rules (like the Clinical Laboratory Improvement...more
In a previous post published on the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Pulse blog, Goodwin Partners Matt Wetzel and William Jackson discussed the potential implications of a high-profile recent lawsuit lodged by Pfizer...more
10/4/2021
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Beneficiary Inducement ,
Co-payments ,
Corporate Integrity Agreement ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Dismissals ,
Drug Pricing ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Medicare Beneficiaries ,
OIG ,
Pfizer ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Ripeness
In September 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a new rule that would expedite Medicare coverage for medical technology approved through the Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) “Breakthrough...more
9/17/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Comment Period ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Innovative Technology ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Beneficiaries ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Reasonable and Necessary Expenses
Many allied health professionals are subject to state-level licensing requirements that can vary from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction. What may be required in New York to hold a medical professional license may differ...more
The use of telehealth continues to grow rapidly across the U.S. Given legislative proposals and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services efforts to expand access to telehealth, we can only anticipate that remotely...more
9/13/2021
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Business Associates ,
Business Associates Agreement (BAA) ,
Corporate Practice of Medicine ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Disparate Impact ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Machine Learning ,
Medical Malpractice ,
PHI ,
Physicians ,
Professional Liability ,
Telehealth
I. OVERVIEW -
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) has increased its focus on mitigating cybersecurity risks in medical device software. On June 24, 2021, the FDA issued two documents that are important not only...more
Alere Inc. and Alere San Diego Inc. (collectively “Alere”) have come under fire recently by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and other government agencies, agreeing to settle several rounds of accusations of False...more
8/13/2021
/ Co-payments ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Supplies ,
Medicare ,
Settlement Agreements
In recent months, the Kaiser Health Network (part of the Kaiser Family Foundation) has issued three reports scrutinizing the orthopedic industry and its practices. Each report articulates the stakeholder group’s concerns over...more
8/11/2021
/ Best Practices ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Medical Devices ,
Physician Payments ,
Physicians ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Sunshine Act
PhRMA, the pharmaceutical manufacturer trade association, announced on Fri. August 6 that it has revised its longstanding Code on Interactions with Health Care Professionals. The revisions, which relate to the Code’s...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed 2022 Physician Fee Schedule rule (Proposed Rule) on July 13, 2021. Included in the rule are several proposed updates to the CMS Open Payments Program,...more
7/28/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Comment Period ,
Delays ,
Health Care Providers ,
Open Payments ,
Ownership Interest ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Physician-Owned Distributors ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Short-Term Loans ,
Sunshine Act ,
Teaching Hospitals