Articles and Blogs

White House Advisor Says President Won’t Support Future Medicaid Cuts In an attempt to reassure states still weighing Medicaid expansion, President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser told health care leaders that his boss will not support cuts to the Medicaid program for the remainder of his presidency.  In a speech made at the Families USA…Read More

Under the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, organizations will enter into payment arrangements that include financial and performance accountability for episodes of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hopes these models may lead to higher quality and more coordinated care at a lower cost to Medicare.  

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that over 500 organizations will begin participating in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative. Through this new initiative, made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), CMS will test how bundling payments for episodes of care can result in more coordinated care for beneficiaries…Read More

On January 25, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) formally published its Omnibus Final Rule (“Final Rule”), which includes modifications to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). Because the Final Rule covers a…Read More

On January 30, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced the new, lower prices that will go into effect July 1, 2013 in the substantial expansion of the Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplier (“DMEPOS”) Competitive Bidding Program. The Competitive Bidding Program prices will replace Medicare’s existing fee schedule amounts in…Read More

Summary Tax-exempt Hospital Organizations will have to take extensive action in the days ahead to ensure compliance with Code Section 501(r). In addition to completing their first community health needs assessments (“CHNAs”) by the end of their current tax years, these Hospital Organizations now face detailed and complicated Proposed Regulations that will govern the other aspects of…Read More

On January 25, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) formally published its Omnibus Final Rule (“Final Rule”), which includes modifications to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). Because the Final Rule covers a broad…Read More

Executive Summary In Vincent v. Quality Addiction Management, Inc., No. 2:11-cv-205 (E.D. Wis. January 14, 2013), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin narrowly construed Wisconsin’s physician-patient privilege to partially grant a motion to compel defendant Quality Addiction Management, Inc. (“QAM”) to disclose the medical records of the co-defendant (“Madison”) that…Read More

Three NLRB Members Not Valid Recess Appointments As we predicted last year, President Obama’s three recess appointments to the NLRB faced a significant constitutional legal challenge.  On January 25, 2012, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in a unanimous opinion ruled that the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB in 2012…Read More

House Passes Bill to Suspend Debt Ceiling On January 23, the House passed a bill that would suspend the debt ceiling and allow the federal government to keep borrowing money until May 17. Both the Senate and the White House have indicated they will not block the House-passed measure. Notably, the bill (H.R. 325) requires the…Read More