The CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Rules
Podcast — Drug Pricing: How Are Payers Responding to the IRA?
Findings from Gibbins’ Annual Healthcare Bankruptcy Report
A Fond Farewell: Musings on the End of the Medicare Advantage Hospice Carve-In Demonstration
Video: Braidwood v. Becerra – Challenging the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Services Coverage Provision – Thought Leaders in Health Law
Hospice and Home Health Survey Perspectives: A Conversation with Kim Skehan, VP of Accreditation at CHAP
Transparency and the Open Payments Program
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 173: Improving rural health care with Dr. Kevin Bennett, the Director of the Research Center for Transforming Health and the
Counsel That Cares - The Private Payer's Perspective on Value-Based Care
Podcast: Health Equity – Behind the Buzzwords – Diagnosing Health Care
A Very “Special” Episode: Amid Controversy, CMS Launches the Hospice Special Focus Program
Grace from CMS: Unexpected Good News on HIS and CAHPS Appeals
This Bandwagon Has a Broken Wheel: OIG Joins the Inconsistent Approach to Hospice GIP Claims
Behind the Curtain: Enhanced Provider Enrollment Oversight
Survey Woes: CMS Ramps Up Hospice Survey Program and Consequences
Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Provisions – What Now? – Diagnosing Health Care Podcast
A Glimpse Into the Other Side: Understanding the Perspective of Government Enforcers
I Understood There Would Be No Math: Audits, Extrapolations, and a New Set of Rules
Podcast: Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Provisions – What’s Next? - Diagnosing Health Care
Quick Takeaways From the 2024 Proposed Hospice Wage Index Rule
Every year, the New Jersey legislature passes statutes that impact healthcare beyond rate increases under the Medicaid program. Last year was no different, and the discussion below highlights some of those statutes, such as...more
Although often well-intentioned, offering free or discounted items or services to patients (e.g., gifts, rewards, writing off copays, free screening exams, free supplies, etc.) may violate federal and state laws governing...more
In a recent Advisory Opinion No. 23-11 (Advisory Opinion), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) opined that it will not impose administrative sanctions against a clinical trial sponsor covering up to $2,000 of a clinical...more
Last month, in the last advisory opinion issued by the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) in 2023 – Advisory Opinion No. 23-11 (the “Opinion”) – OIG “blessed” an arrangement involving a medical device manufacturer (the...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced new measures to enhance access to behavioral health services for Medicare beneficiaries and improve hospital price transparency as part of the final rule for...more
On September 29, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that the federal Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury departments are seeking public input on the possibility of...more
August 16, 2023 marked the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”). The first 365 days since the IRA’s passage brought the implementation of a number of significant changes to the Medicare...more
Although most of the recent focus around the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) by the press and industry stakeholders has been on the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, the IRA has several other...more
Most of the recent focus around the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by the press and the industry has been on the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program and its potential impact on manufacturers. But the...more
On August 24, 2023, health care providers in Texas scored yet another victory when a federal court vacated additional portions of the Biden Administration’s rulemaking under the federal No Surprises Act (the Act). This marked...more
On February 1, 2023, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Advance Notice of Methodological Changes for Calendar Year (CY) 2024 for Medicare Advantage (MA) Capitation Rates and Part C and D...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights significant activity between September 21 and October 20, 2022. We review several criminal and civil enforcement actions related to Anti-Kickback Statute...more
On Tuesday, May 17, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision granting the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s (PhRMA)’s motion for summary judgment and vacating (i.e.,...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Transparency in Coverage Final Rule took effect on July 1, following a six-month delay in implementation to allow payers to come into compliance....more
On March 11, 2022, OIG issued Advisory Opinion No. 22-05 in which it responded to a request for an advisory opinion regarding a proposed subsidization of certain cost-sharing obligations in the context of a clinical trial...more
The Eastern District of Texas recently issued its opinion in Texas Medical Association v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al., invalidating key portions of regulations implementing the out-of-network...more
On November 19, 2021, OIG issued Advisory Opinion No. 21-17 in which it responded to a request for an advisory opinion regarding a proposed subsidization of certain Medicare cost-sharing obligations in the context of a...more
The courts continue to play an important role in health policy. 2020 saw several notable lawsuits related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Several other Trump administration policies were challenged, including Medicare...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, and the Office of Personnel Management issued an interim final rule with a comment period on the issues of...more
On July 1, 2021, the Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”), the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), the Department of Treasury (“Treasury”), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”), the Department of Labor...more
2020 saw the courts continuing to play an important role in health policy with several notable lawsuits related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Several other Trump administration policies were challenged, including Medicare...more
The CMS, DOL and Treasury Departments recently and jointly issued FAQs about how group health plans are required to cover COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing without cost-sharing. The guidance makes clear that private group health...more
The Big Picture - Until late December, few if any Medicare policy changes were anticipated as part of a year-end healthcare package, barring extensions of funding for programs that otherwise would have expired. But after...more
As discussed in a previous McGuireWoods alert, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published final rules expected to be effective Jan. 19, 2021, that significantly amend the Physician Self-Referral Law...more
Section 9 of Senate Bill 770 (SB 770), signed into law in 2019, directed the state of Oregon to engage in an analysis to help policymakers develop policy around a public option or Medicaid buy-in model for Oregon. The goal of...more