Hospice Insights Podcast: What’s the Latest on UPICs? Highlights from Recent Audit Activity, Part I
Hospice Insights Podcast - Stories of Successful Hospice Leadership: The CEO and Chief Medical Officer Relationship
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Rise in Medicare Deactivations: Tips for Avoiding This Financial Pain
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 5: Understanding Palliative Care: Strategies for Compliance and Reimbursement
Hospice Insights: Check the Mail: Are You Getting a 4% Rate Cut?
Hospice Labor and Employment Trends - Get Up to Speed Fast: What You Need to Know About the New Rules Involving Non-Competes and Exempt Employees
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice - Lessons Learned From ALJ Hospice Audit Appeals
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Refresh: What’s New in the New OIG General Compliance Program Guidance
Hospice Insights Podcast - Deal Breakers: Identifying Key Issues Early in Member Substitutions
A Command Performant(s): RAC Audits on the Rise
The TPE Carousel. . . Around and Around We Go
A Fond Farewell: Musings on the End of the Medicare Advantage Hospice Carve-In Demonstration
OMG. . .The OIG is at it Again
How One Hospice Owner Got Convicted of Healthcare Fraud and How You Can Avoid That Fate
Hospice and Home Health Survey Perspectives: A Conversation with Kim Skehan, VP of Accreditation at CHAP
Year in Review: Key Regulatory Updates in 2023
An Alternative to Consolidations: Key Considerations for Management Services Organizations
Stories of Successful Hospice Leadership: The CEO and Compliance Officer Relationship
A Very “Special” Episode: Amid Controversy, CMS Launches the Hospice Special Focus Program
Grace from CMS: Unexpected Good News on HIS and CAHPS Appeals
News Briefs - Statistics Show Upward Trend in Healthcare Data Breaches - Healthcare data breach statistics clearly show there has been an upward trend in data breaches over the past 14 years, with 2021 seeing more data...more
News Briefs - Physicians Responsible for Meeting CMS Information Blocking Rules - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued a final rule that...more
Below is Alston & Bird’s Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in health care regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional committee action; reports, studies,...more
Texas Pharmaceutical Marketer Sentenced for $59 Million Medications Fraud Conspiracy - On July 12, Quintan Cockerell, a Texas pharmaceutical marketer, was sentenced to over two years in prison and ordered to pay more than...more
News Briefs - Texas Federal Court Ruling Puts Noncompete Ban on Hold - A Texas federal court issued a preliminary injunction against the Federal Trade Commission's noncompete ban, which if implemented would allow existing...more
News Briefs - Appeals Court Rules Drug Firms Can Limit 340B Discounted Drugs - An appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling on 340B that sided with drug manufacturers. At issue is whether pharmaceutical companies can...more
Introduction - Polsinelli proudly introduces the Health Care Fraud and Abuse 2023 Year in Review, a comprehensive examination of the evolving landscape surrounding the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and fraud & abuse enforcement...more
News Briefs - U.S. to Accelerate Medicare Payments in Wake of Cyberattack - The U.S. government said it will accelerate Medicare and Medicaid payments to some hospitals hurt by a hack at insurer UnitedHealth's technology unit...more
News Briefs - FTC-Proposed Merger Guidelines Could Slow Healthcare Deals - Newly proposed merger guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission could chill dealmaking in the healthcare sector, as well as increase the costs and...more
In a follow-up to its recent reports on billing outside the hospice benefit for drugs and durable medical equipment (DME), the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) new data report identifies billions being billed to Medicare...more
What does Medicare cover? What are the costs of Medicare? What happens if you forget to enroll for Medicare? Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people in the United States who are over the age of 65 or...more
In an effort to increase coverage transparency, for hospice elections beginning on or after October 1, 2020, the beneficiary, beneficiary’s representative, non-hospice providers, or Medicare contractors may request a written...more
Misuse of controlled substances continues to be a serious public health problem in the United States. The most commonly misused controlled substances include opioids (such as oxycodone), which are used to treat pain, and...more
Hospice officials identified both best practices and challenges that hospice employees face when disposing of controlled substances in a patient’s home. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on April...more
On February 12, 2020, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) issued a Dear Administrator Letter clarifying DOH’s policies for hospice patients residing in adult care facilities (ACF) when those ACF Hospice Residents...more
On August 22, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report following up to an audit that the OIG performed in 2012 indicating that Medicare Part D paid for...more
On February 22, 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its final rule revising management standards for hazardous waste pharmaceuticals, which will take effect August 2019. Healthcare facilities that...more
We are seeing a wide range of new state laws that impact the prescribing of opioids to hospice patients. Several bills are before the New York State Assembly that, if passed, could affect how prescriptions are written to...more
Although we are seeing a wide range of new state laws that impact the prescribing of opioids to hospice patients, this year’s legislative session in Georgia has not produced any such laws. Because of the nation’s opioid...more
Despite its plain text, the California Board of Pharmacy (the “BoP”) has adopted an interpretation of state statute requiring stocked removable pockets for automated drug dispensing systems (“ADDS”) to be transported to and...more
On November 10, 2016, the Office of Inspector General (“the OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) is charged with ensuring the integrity of more than 100 programs administered by DHHS, including...more
I. REGULATIONS, NOTICES, & GUIDANCE - On April 21, 2016, CMS issued a proposed rule entitled, “Medicare Program: FY 2017 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements.” This...more
The 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B Program), established by Section 602 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of HHS. The 340B Program requires...more
This Week: House Ways & Means Committee Holds Markup; Makes Significant Legislative Changes to Health Care Bills... Senate Finance Committee Holds Markup on Medicare Appeals Process Bill... CMS Issues Final Rule on...more
This Week: House E&C 21st Century Cures Bill Passes Unanimously Out of Committee... House Votes to Codify Permanent R&D Tax Credit... CMS Released Proposed Rule Concerning Medicaid and CHIP Plans....more