An article in the February issue of Healthcare Risk Management, “Protect Peer Review Privileges, or Risk Serious Consequences,” discussed the importance of the hospital peer review privilege. Rivkin Radler’s Chris Kutner was quoted in the article.
Chris noted that the peer review privilege provides an opportunity for a completely candid evaluation. He added
On Thursday, January 13, in the next installment of Rivkin Radler’s Healthcare Compliance Lunch & Learn series, Rivkin Radler Partner Robert Hussar will present a review of key developments in healthcare fraud and abuse, compliance and government enforcement in 2021 as well as trends and changes in the industry that will impact healthcare organizations and
The federal No Surprises Act, effective January 1, 2022, established new requirements for healthcare providers, facilities, and providers of air ambulance services to protect consumers from “surprise” medical bills. These requirements are in addition to applicable state laws regulating balance billing and surprise bills.
If a consumer receives care from an out-of-network provider, the patient’s
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Flower Mound Hospital Partners LLC, a partially physician-owned hospital in Flower Mound, Texas, agreed to pay $18.2 million to settle its alleged violations of the False Claims Act (FCA). The DOJ alleged that the hospital knowingly violated the FCA by submitting claims to Medicaid, Medicare, and TRICARE
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the scope of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA) as it relates to the treatment of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The case to be heard by the high court, Marietta Memorial Hospital Employee Health Benefit Plan v. DaVita, Inc.[1], originated from a suit
The 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule released on November 2 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added certain services to the Medicare telehealth services list through December 31, 2023. Last year, we wrote about temporary “Category 3” services that were added to the Medicare services list for the duration of
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a favorable Advisory Opinion on an arrangement that would allow a hospital to offer free items and services to patients who experienced certain complications after undergoing joint replacement procedures at the hospital. The arrangement only applied to a specific list
On August 16, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a favorable Advisory Opinion regarding an arrangement between a Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance (“Medigap”) plan and a preferred hospital organization (PHO). The arrangement in question incentivized Medigap policyholders to seek inpatient care from hospitals that participated in the
A new federal hospital price transparency rule that took effect on January 1, 2021, requires hospitals to post all prices for services online in an easily accessible format. However, a report recently released by PatientRightsAdvocate.org found that 94.4% of hospitals were not in compliance with the rule, because one or more price transparency requirements were
An article in the July issue of Hospital Peer Review, “NPDB Reporting Protected by Law in Some Cases, Gray Areas Problematic,” discussed hospitals’ obligations to report doctors to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and their protection against liability for doing so. Rivkin Radler’s Chris Kutner was quoted extensively in the article.