New York’s State Disaster Emergency declaration, which had been extended through June 24 through a series of Executive Orders by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has expired. Among many other things, the Executive Orders had removed certain restrictions on the provision of telehealth services.
For example, since March 18, 2020, Gov. Cuomo’s Executive Order No. 202.5 had
On June 16, Jeffrey Goldstein, a former Manhattan physician, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for taking $196,000 in kickbacks from Insys Therapeutics, a defunct Arizona-based opioid manufacturer. Goldstein pled guilty to conspiracy in 2019 for accepting purported “speaker fees” from Insys in 2013-15 to prescribe the company’s fentanyl spray, Subsys.
Goldstein was one
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has pursued its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative since 2019. OCR’s 19th settlement under the initiative, with The Diabetes, Endocrinology & Lipidology Center, Inc. (DELC), curiously resulted in only a $5,000 fine. The West Virginia provider treats patients who have endocrine disorders.
On May 26, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against 14 defendants in six states for participation in healthcare fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coordinated takedown involved fraudulent claims for laboratory testing, telemedicine fraud, pharmacy fraud, payment of kickbacks for referrals, and alleged misappropriation of COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund
On May 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued final guidance for assessing the safety and compatibility of medical devices within magnetic resonance imaging facilities. The guidance applies to implanted devices, external devices like insulin pumps and pulse oximeters, and any other devices that may be brought into MRI rooms, but not to
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that CareCloud Health, a Florida-based developer of electronic health records software, agreed to pay $3.8 million to resolve a whistleblower’s allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to generate sales of its products. CareCloud’s marketing referral program called the “Champions Program” allegedly violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and
In an April 15 notice on its COVID-19 portal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) reminded healthcare providers that COVID-19 vaccines must be administered at no out-of-pocket cost to patients. OIG has received complaints from patients that their providers charged them for COVID-19 vaccines.
Under the Centers for
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) agreed to pay $75 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it knowingly underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP). Of that total, $41 million plus interest will be paid to the federal government and the remainder to various state Medicaid
On February 16, 2021, the Governor enacted the Child-Parent Security Act (“the Act”) through emergency regulations, legalizing compensated gestational surrogacy in New York State.
With gestational surrogacy, a surrogate gestates an embryo for the intended parents. The embryo may contain the genetic material of the intended parents or donor gametes. Traditional surrogacy, where the
Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a system that uses smart speakers and machine learning algorithms to monitor heartbeats without the need for physical contact. The system was described in a study published in Communications Biology.
When a person sits within two feet of a smart speaker, the system sends out inaudible