Legislation and Public Policy

In a report published on March 31, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) begin to collect and analyze information about any effect telehealth has on the quality of care for Medicaid beneficiaries. CMS does not currently collect or analyze this information, nor does it have…

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expanded Medicare coverage for telehealth nationwide, as discussed here. The $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill signed into law by President Biden today extended the current telehealth accommodations for 151 days after the end of the federal public health emergency, which…

In a February 23 order, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated a controversial rule issued in September that implemented the independent dispute resolution (IDR) procedure under the federal No Surprises Act (NSA). The lawsuit[1] was brought by the Texas Medical Association. Numerous industry participants had complained that the…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) recently issued a report entitled “Electronic Medical Records in Healthcare” that discussed security risks applicable to electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs). EHRs and EMRs are prime targets for cyber attackers because protected health information (PHI)…

On Thursday, March 10, in the next installment of Rivkin Radler’s Healthcare Compliance Lunch & Learn series, Rivkin Radler’s Chris Kutner and Ashley Algazi will discuss Compliance and Legal Considerations for Value Based Arrangements. The program will take place from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM Eastern time via Zoom.

The topics covered will include:

  • Framework

…

We don’t often cover brand-new proposed legislation on Rivkin Rounds, generally preferring to wait until it’s closer to becoming law. However, two bipartisan bills introduced in Congress last week are worthy of mention.

The Telehealth Extension and Evaluation Act would allow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend certain pandemic-era flexibilities in Medicare…

On Thursday, February 10, in the next installment of Rivkin Radler’s Healthcare Compliance Lunch & Learn series, Rivkin Radler Partner John Diviney will present a review of employment laws taking effect in 2022. The program will take place from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM Eastern time via Zoom.

Some of the topics covered will be:…

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs established a Temporary Emergency Reciprocity License (TERL) program to give emergency licenses to healthcare practitioners from states outside of New Jersey. The TERL program had been extended multiple times and was set to expire on January 11, 2022.

However, on January…

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…