Do Gift Cards Keep on Giving How the Law Affects the Consumer, the Retailer and the State
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published favorable Advisory Opinion No. 23-15 on January 3, which concluded that a consultant’s proposal to provide gift cards to existing...more
A recent Advisory Opinion (No. 23-15) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that a healthcare consulting company’s plan to offer gift cards to physician practices...more
On December 28, 2023, the Office of Inspector General (the “OIG”) issued a favorable Advisory Opinion (No. 23-15) (the “Opinion”) to a consulting vendor (the “Requestor”) that wanted to provide up to $75 in gift cards to...more
On January 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) posted Advisory Opinion 23-15, approving a physician practice consultant’s proposal to offer gift cards to its customers when...more
The plan of a healthcare consulting firm (the “Firm”) to give gift cards to physicians in exchange for referrals to new customers does not violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (the “AKS”), according to an Advisory...more
If your business offers a loyalty program in conjunction with a gift card, you likely already know that Section 520-e of New York’s General Business Law took effect December 10, 2023. This new law gives consumers a set grace...more
The holiday shopping season perennially holds great significance for retailers, and this impact is heightened in 2023 due to shifting consumer behaviors influenced by economic dynamics and evolving preferences. There are...more
Lab Owner Sentenced to Over 16 Years for Health Care Fraud, Money Laundering - On September 26, 2023, a US District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina sentenced a Charlotte lab owner, Donald Booker, to over...more
Starting June 20, 2023, a new law passed in New York State requires all businesses selling gift cards to warn customers of potential gift card fraud. The warning must be placed in writing at or near the point of sale or...more
On March 24, 2023, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued Advisory Opinion 23-03 (the “Opinion”), in which it decided not to impose sanctions on an Arrangement to provide prepaid gift cards to patients for certain...more
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued Advisory Opinion (AO) 23-03, analyzing a proposed arrangement in which a company that manufactures an at-home colon cancer...more
On March 29, 2023, OIG posted Advisory Opinion No. 23-03 regarding a laboratory’s proposed arrangement to provide a prepaid card of up to $75 to encourage individuals to return the sample collection kit associated with the...more
The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) recently issued yet another favorable Advisory Opinion on the use of gift cards to motivate patients to receive medically necessary or...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued Advisory Opinion 23-03, approving a proposal by the manufacturer of a colorectal cancer screening test and its wholly owned...more
Anyone who owns a cellphone or uses an email address has received a communication from a scammer seeking to extract confidential information or trick the recipient into sending money to foreign countries. These attempts come...more
Please join us for the first Lunch and Learn of 2023, as Geoffrey Kaiser and Jeffrey Ehrhardt present on the OIG. The program will: 1. Discuss select Advisory Opinions from last year on a variety of topics,...more
Retail sales increased 8.0% in October, exceeding the CORE CPI of 6.3%; and monthly retail sales were up .9% over September totals, exceeding the monthly inflation index of .4%, but much of this gain was due to inflation...more
In Calcano v. Swarovski North America Ltd., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals consolidated five ADA Title III actions brought by the same law firm for alleged failures to offer braille gift cards. After consolidating the...more
On August 19, 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 22-16 (Advisory Opinion) in which it declined to impose sanctions for an arrangement under which the requestor provides gift cards to...more
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has offered an opinion on providing a gift card to certain Medicare Advantage plan enrollees who complete specific steps in an online patient...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued an Advisory Opinion on offering gift cards to patients for completing an online patient education program....more
On June 2, 2022, the Second Circuit issued a decision in Calcano, et al. v. Swarovski North America Ltd., et al., affirming dismissal of five consolidated cases brought by visually impaired plaintiffs who alleged various...more
Second Circuit issues scathing decision directed at “mad lib”-style serial ADA Title III complaints, and affirms-on the basis of standing-the dismissal of four lawsuits alleging that retailers violated the ADA by not...more
Here are last week’s curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: FTC Launches Inquiry Into Formula Shortage- ...more
New York AG Letitia James reached a settlement with global retailer H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. and whistleblower William S. French to resolve allegations that H&M improperly retained unused gift card balances that should have...more