On November 5, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an emergency regulation, requiring the workforce of Medicare- and Medicaid- certified providers and suppliers to be fully vaccinated against...more
Hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers are facing unprecedented ethical and legal challenges related to the shortage of critical-care resources for patients during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Some...more
6/9/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Ethical Standards ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
OCR ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Standard of Care
On April 19, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published recommendations for re-opening facilities to provide non-emergent non-COVID-19 health care services.[1] The recommendations provide guidance for...more
5/14/2020
/ Ambulatory Surgery Centers ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Elective Surgical Procedures ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Nurses ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Physicians ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Surgical Center Requirements ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Decontamination
On September 9, 2019 the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its first enforcement action and settlement of its Right of Access Initiative. This follows an OCR...more
In the closely watched Oswald v. Beard case decided last Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a 2012 law which grants a hospital charitable property tax exemption if the value of...more
CMS estimates it paid $3.7 million to practitioners for telehealth services that did not meet Medicare requirements. That's the finding of a recent report of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health...more
Illinois hospitals continue to face uncertainty regarding the law under which they may seek exemption from property taxes. As reported in our March 30, 2017, Health Law Alert, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to rule on...more
The Illinois Hospital Licensing Act regulations (Regulations) have been revised significantly to reflect the new reality of health system governance of hospitals. The revisions focus on the governance and medical staffs of...more
The settlement described below highlights the importance of carefully structuring compensation arrangements with referring physicians, and the risk involved in trying to work backwards to achieve a desired level of...more
There have been two new developments in the long running saga over a charitable property tax exemption for hospitals in Illinois....more
This is the second of three alerts discussing the mid-year update to the Fiscal Year 2016 Work Plan issued by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). In the first alert we discussed the top management performance challenges...more
6/24/2016
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Fiscal Year ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospitals ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Outlier Payment Rules ,
MedPAC ,
OIG ,
Two-Midnight Rule ,
Work Plans
Summary of Decision -
On June 16, 2016, the United States Supreme Court decided a case which could have significant impact on healthcare providers. In Universal Health Services Inc. v Escobar, the Court expanded...more
6/22/2016
/ Conditions of Payment ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
False Implied Certification Theory ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Implied Certification ,
Material Misrepresentation ,
Materiality ,
Medicaid ,
SCOTUS ,
Universal Health Services Inc v United States ex rel Escobar ,
Unlicensed Medical Providers
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released its mid-year update of its Fiscal Year Work Plan for 2016. The Work Plan summarizes new and ongoing reviews and activities that the OIG plans to pursue. Not...more
6/20/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Alternative Payment Models (APM) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Health Record Incentives ,
Fiscal Year ,
Fraud Abuse and Waste ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare Part A ,
Medicare Part B ,
OIG ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Work Plans
HHS late last week issued a Final Rule prohibiting discrimination in healthcare on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. The Rule also broadens protection for individuals with limited English...more
5/23/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Gender Identity ,
Healthcare ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Section 1557