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
As a general rule, healthcare employers are required to pay employed physicians and other contracted providers fair market value (FMV) for their services, but many employers do not understand relevant regulatory standards. ...more
In early May 2024, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) agreed to pay $38 million to resolve a False Claims Act case based on alleged Stark Law violations. The size of the settlement in United States ex rel. J....more
Most Medicare Advantage (“MA”) beneficiaries rely on agents and brokers to help them navigate the complex process of selecting a health plan that will meet their needs. In exchange, brokers and agents received certain fixed...more
On April 4, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued the contract year 2025 (CY2025) Medicare Advantage and Part D final rule (the “Final Rule”). In addition to finalizing its CY2025 proposed rule,...more
Fair market value (FMV) is a pinnacle issue with respect to healthcare regulatory compliance and compensation agreements. This article will analyze the issues related to an FMV defensibility analysis of compensation...more
A common question in the context of Medicare Advantage (“MA”) distribution and compensation is how agents and brokers may be compensated for commissions and administrative payments and whether, and to what extent, referral...more
Fair market value is a pinnacle issue for compliance under the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute. Compensation arrangements that are required to be representative of fair market value under Stark/AKS include employment,...more
Based on recent changes and clarifications made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Federal Physician Self-Referral Law (commonly known as the “Stark Law”), hospitals and health systems need to...more
Each year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recovers millions of dollars through False Claims Act (FCA) settlements, and 2021 was no exception. Some of the most sizeable or otherwise noteworthy settlements from 2021 were with...more
Court Rules Prescription Drug Event and Enrollee Encounter Data Are 'Claims for Payment' Under the False Claims Act - US District Judge Noel L. Hillman approved a whistleblower’s request to file a Fourth Amended Complaint...more
The ACCC 47th Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit (AMCCBS) took place virtually, March 1-5. Through a combination of five-star panels and interactive drop-in sessions, attendees learned about key themes and trends...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) new final rule amending the implementing regulations of the Physician Self-Referral Law (“Stark Law”), in part, defines fundamental terms, such as “fair market value” and...more
Under the federal Stark law, hospitals and other healthcare employers may require that employed or contracted physicians refer items or services to the hospital or another designated provider subject to certain limits. (42...more
Click the link below for our complete analysis of recent updates to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute and their impact on health care providers. ...more
In its first significant Stark Law rulemaking since 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a new final rule (Final Rule) intending to provide physicians and designated health services (DHS)...more
CMS made impactful changes to the Federal physician self-referral law’s (i.e., Stark Law’s) regulations in its Final Rule that were effective January 19, 2021 (with the exception of the changes to 42 C.F.R. § 411.352(i) that...more
The Situation: Under the federal Physician Self-Referral Law ("Stark Law"), many physician arrangements must meet one or more of the so-called "big three" requirements: that the arrangement be "commercially reasonable," that...more
In its recent Final Rule significantly revising the federal Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implements several important changes to the special rules on...more
The Situation: The isolated transactions exception under the Stark Law has been used by some providers and entities to retroactively protect services arrangements that do not qualify for personal services or fair market value...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) completed its “Regulatory Sprint” by finalizing changes to regulations pertaining to two federal fraud and abuse laws. On December 2, 2020, the Centers for Medicare &...more
The Final Rule of the Stark Law revises the definitions of Fair Market Value and includes a definition of General Market Value to better align with actual practices without unduly restricting innovative relationships between...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), on November 20, 2020, released final rules for the federal physician self-referral law (Stark) and the anti-kickback statute (AKS). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...more
With the benefit of more than three decades of rulemaking and hundreds of submissions under the Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol, CMS has seized the opportunity in the final Sprint Regulations to adopt a number of...more
CMS and OIG released highly anticipated final changes to the rules implementing the Stark Law, the safe harbors issued under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the beneficiary inducements provision in the civil monetary...more
On April 3, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a policy statement of enforcement discretion (the “Policy Statement”) regarding sanctions under the Federal...more