Articles and Blogs

Senate HELP Committee Takes Another Look at 340B The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held its second hearing on the 340B program. Representatives from two major government watchdogs, the Government Accountability Office and the HHS Office of the Inspector General, testified at the hearing. The testimony focused on oversight reports related to the…Read More

NATIONAL States Ease More Restrictions To Physician Assistants As Team Care Takes Hold Amazon’s Alexa Healthcare Team Bones Up on HIPAA Compliance GAO: Patient access to medical records remains a challenge Alexa Could Soon Become Your In-House Doctor According to Amazon Internal Document CMS Launches Rural Health Strategy with Telehealth Aims Seema Verma gives update…Read More

A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that volunteers, who do not expect compensation, are not employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). In the past, the Sixth Circuit has declined to employ such a bright line test. In Acosta v. Cathedral Buffet, Inc., a church based…Read More

On May 10, 2018, United States Senior District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, Joe Billy McDade, issued an order that should form the template for all courts asked to keep the government’s False Claims Act (“FCA”) extension motions under seal.¹ Far too often, courts simply grant the government’s ex parte motions without considering…Read More

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently had the opportunity to return to the subject of employer policies restricting nurses and other employees from wearing pro-union insignia in the workplace. The Rules The NLRB decision focused on two policies, which were challenged by their employees. The first policy, dealing with appropriate dress and grooming, applied to all…Read More

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently issued three new opinion letters, the first new opinion letters published since 2010. Opinion letters are, according to the Department of Labor, “an official, written opinion by the Wage and Hour Division of how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by an employer, employee…Read More

Trump Administration Proposes Cost-Cutting Package On May 8, the Trump administration proposed an extensive packing of $15.4 billion spending cuts. The administration seeks to cut funds from 38 programs that “are just sitting in accounts” and not being used. Almost half of the proposed cuts, $6.96 billion, would come from the Children’s Health Insurance Program…Read More

Recently providers have had success challenging CMS rules, as well as its failure to properly promulgate them. In Ruling 1727-R, issued April 23, 2018, CMS acquiesced to the decision in Banner Heart v. Burwell, invalidating CMS’s regulation prohibiting appeals unless they stemmed from a cost report adjustment or a protested item. In Banner, the court…Read More

NATIONAL Payer Roundup—CMS delays 340B rule … again A Collaboration to Keep Physicians at the Center of Healthcare ManorCare Mega-Deal Blurs Care Lines, But Will Doctors Buy In? CMS Chief Fires Back at Critics FDA chief Gottlieb to pharma: Those rebates you love to hate may soon count as kickbacks Healthcare a bright spot in…Read More

On May 7, 2018, CMS published its inpatient prospective payment system (“IPPS”) proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule addresses a variety of provider topics, and this article discusses three noteworthy issues related to graduate medical education (“GME”). First, CMS announced the next two rounds of GME slot redistribution through the closed hospital slot redistribution…Read More