Legislation and Public Policy

On January 7, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments pursuant to emergency requests in two cases concerning COVID-19 mandates. One case involves a challenge by a coalition of interest groups and states opposed to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s mandate, which requires employees of businesses with 100 or more employees to receive…

On December 22, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) announced that it issued an Order temporarily suspending the requirements for state licensure, certification or registration of physicians, nurses, and certain behavioral health providers who are licensed elsewhere in the U.S. or the District of Columbia. The Order will expire on February 15, 2022, if…

Many of the changes to telehealth requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic on both the federal and state levels were intended to be temporary, as previously discussed here. Recently, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress introduced the Telehealth Extension Act, which would, among other things, eliminate the requirement that patients live in a…

On December 15, New York City issued clarifications to its prior vaccine mandate. As we advised here, the NYC Commissioner of Health previously ordered that, commencing December 27, workers must have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to work for a private employer at a NYC workplace. Workers will then have…

A study recently released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that the number of beneficiaries in the traditional Medicare program who used telehealth increased from 840,000 in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million in 2020. At the same time, the number of visits to doctors’ offices reimbursed under Part B decreased.…

The New York City Council just passed a new COVID vaccination bill requiring paid leave for parents per child per injection. Additionally, businesses and employees in New York City are subject to new vaccine mandates effective December 27, 2021, based on a recent announcement by outgoing Mayor de Blasio.

The new bill requires New York…

An article in the December issue of HIPAA Regulatory Alert, “HIPAA Changes Coming in 2022 Might Require Policy Revisions,” discussed how proposed changes to HIPAA and the HITECH Act may affect covered entities and business associates. Rivkin Radler’s Eric Fader was quoted in the article.

Eric pointed out that the proposed changes…

2020 changed the way family celebrated the holidays. This was especially true for families with loved ones in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). However, the 2021 holidays look like they will be brighter and visiting loved ones in SNFs will be easier thanks to new federal and state guidance.

On November 12, 2021, the Centers for…

On October 28, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary approved for consideration by the full Senate the False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 (“FCA-2021”). The primary sponsor of the bill (S. 2428) is Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and there are four cosponsors: Sen. Richard Durban (D-IL), Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and…

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…