On June 16, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the DOJ properly secured a dismissal of a whistleblower suit accusing Executive Health Resources Inc. of violating the False Claims Act by improperly billing Medicare....more
On June 16, 2023, in United States, ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., the US Supreme Court addressed the government’s authority to dismiss a qui tam False Claims Act (FCA) suit over a relator’s objection...more
The United States Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case interpreting the False Claims Act (“FCA”) that may affect the government’s involvement in pending and future matters. To resolve a circuit split, the Court will...more
As of January 1, 2022, certain provisions of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act,” commonly referred to as the “No Surprises Act” (Act), are in effect. The Act amends the Public Health Service Act, Employee Retirement Income...more
On March 10, 2021, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) issued Insurance Circular Letter No. 4 (“Circular Letter”), which both explains modifications to the Insurance Law and the Public Health Law...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that beginning December 1, 2016, it is offering to settle certain inpatient-status claims to eligible hospitals willing to withdraw from the administrative...more
IN THE SPOTLIGHT - - SEC Sanctions Unregistered EB-5 Investments Broker SECURITIES - - FINRA to Assess Member Firms’ Culture - SEC Seeks Fund Responses to Distribution-In-Guise Guidance ...more
On October 15, 2015, CMS released its annual recovery auditing report to Congress. CMS’s Recovery Auditor (RAC) program identifies and corrects improper payments through a combination of prepayment and post-payment reviews,...more
In its Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2012, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it would begin reviews of Medicare payments to hospitals to determine compliance...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a further delay, through December 31, 2015, of the Recovery Auditors’ (RA) audits of the “Two-Midnight” Rule. Congress previously passed a law delaying...more
On July 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the calendar year (CY) 2016 outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS)/ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system proposed rule that...more
On July 1, CMS published proposed changes to the so-called “Two-Midnight Rule,” which currently governs when inpatient hospital admissions are entitled to Medicare Part A payment. The proposed changes were announced in a...more
On June 11, 2015, CMS announced that it had entered into settlements with over 1,900 hospitals for over 300,000 disputed inpatient billing claims. CMS updated its website dedicated to inpatient hospital reviews, noting that...more
CMS Announces Billing Changes for Certain Inpatient-Only Procedures – Effective April 1, 2015, CMS will allow payment for Inpatient-Only procedures provided in an outpatient setting on the date of the inpatient admission, or...more
As part of the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Rule issued last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized its proposal to conditionally package certain ancillary services assigned to APCs...more
CMS is offering to pay hospitals 68 percent of the allowable amount for all claims that are currently on appeal. Specifically, CMS is offering to settle "inpatient status" claims at 68 percent of the "net paid amount" within...more
In an attempt to clear the backlog of appeals of short inpatient stays, CMS recently announced a settlement offer for hospitals with claims currently pending in the appeals process. In exchange for withdrawal of their...more
On September 17, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Hospital Association (AHA), three individual hospitals, and two health care systems that challenged CMS’s...more
Last Monday the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of Health & Human Services posted an advisory opinion (No. 14-07) allowing a Medigap insurance company to strike a deal with hospitals for discounts—even waivers—of the...more
Hospitals have been complaining about the two-midnight rule since it was first announced. But mounting evidence indicates that Medicare patients themselves are suffering badly from the effects of the rule....more
On June 30, 2014, King & Spalding filed comments in response to Medicare’s proposed IPPS rule for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 on behalf of more than 200 hospitals it represents in a federal court challenge to the FY 2014 Two...more
On May 28, 2014, OIG released a report asserting that over $19 million in inappropriate payments were made to hospitals for inpatient claims subject to the post-acute care transfer policy. These overpayments were the result...more
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a False Claims Act (“FCA”) whistleblower suit seeking $50 million in damages from Huron Consulting Group Inc. (“Huron”) for...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has set its sights on the quality of care during hospital inpatient stays and much, much more. On May 15, 2014, CMS published a proposed rule that would update Medicare...more
On Friday, January 31, 2014, CMS announced it would extend the “Probe & Educate Period,” a period of partial nonenforcement for the new inpatient admission requirements, including the two-midnight rule, through the end of...more