Podcast: Impact of COVID-19 on Pharmacist Scope of Practice: Before and After the PREP Act - Diagnosing Health Care
What Health Care Providers and Facilities Should Know About the PREP Act's "Covered Countermeasures"
COVID-19 Hospice How-To Series: The Latest on Testing and Vaccinating Employees
On May 9, 2023, HHS released a fact sheet announcing the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. HHS also provided information on changes to the healthcare flexibilities issued during the...more
For the last three years, the federal government has taken considerable steps to aid providers in the fight against COVID-19. Although many of the waivers and flexibilities initiated in response to the pandemic have since...more
With the implementation of the largest adult vaccination program in U.S. history, with over 270 million people receiving at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine and 15 million courses of COVID-19 treatment administered, the...more
After three years, the federal public health emergency (PHE) will expire May 11, 2023. Most of the relaxed regulatory and payor standards will end on or within a few months after the deadline, including many relating to: ...more
On February 22, 2022, the Ninth Circuit ruled a COVID-19 wrongful death suit brought against a nursing home is not preempted by a federal health emergency law. The court affirmed a district court’s remand order which stated...more
When the estates of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 brought negligence and wrongful death lawsuits in New Jersey state court, defendant nursing homes removed the suits to federal court under the Public Readiness...more
The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued the Eighth Amendment to the Declaration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (“PREP Act”) for Medical Countermeasures...more
On July 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a Renewal of Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists extending the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another ninety...more
Given the significant push to vaccinate the public since the start of 2021, the increasing availability of vaccines, and the need to recruit additional personnel to administer vaccinations, the secretary of the US Department...more
On January 28, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it has amended the Declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) to expand the types of providers that...more
On January 28, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Fifth Amendment to HHS’s Declaration under the Public Health Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) that provides liability immunity...more
The executive and judicial branches do not see eye-to-eye on the scope of PREP Act immunity. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the current administration, has taken umbrage at how lower courts have...more
With 2020 officially behind us, what does 2021 have in store for telemedicine and digital health policy? A year ago, our team predicted 2020 would bring “notable expansions in Medicare and Medicaid coverage” and “the...more
On December 9, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar issued a new notice of declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act (the Declaration) to provide...more
The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, Public Law 109-148, Div. C, § 2 (2005) (PREP Act), as amended, authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to limit legal liability for losses relating to...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued two new advisory opinions dramatically illuminating the wide scope of the PREP Act and its immunities for organizations using covered countermeasures in...more
To assist in the response of the nation’s health care providers to the COVID-19 pandemic, on August 24, 2020, the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Third Amendment to his March 10,...more
An issue of concern for some manufacturers during the COVID-19 outbreak is the issue of potential liability in a product liability lawsuit if they switch their manufacturing process to produce items they don’t normally...more
- Federal emergency authorities targeting COVID-19 provide important protections to businesses for certain actions in connection with the national response to the public health crisis. - The protections include immunity...more
On March 17, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Declaration energizing the PREP Act, which provides legal immunity for manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and administrators...more
The Secretary of HHS issued a public health emergency declaration, effective February 4, 2020, regarding COVID-19. The impact of that declaration is to trigger certain targeted liability immunity provisions under the Public...more