On December 23, the U.S. Congress passed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,” the omnibus budget bill for fiscal year 2023 (HR 2617). The bill includes several provisions relating to Medicare coverage of telehealth, including extending some of the flexibilities that became effective at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The budget bill for…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a favorable Advisory Opinion on a hospital arrangement in which the hospital was using its employed nurse practitioners to perform services that were traditionally performed by patients’ attending physicians. Specifically, if the attending physician elected to participate in the hospital’s…

On December 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Bulletin entitled ”Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates“ that addresses the responsibilities of HIPAA covered entities and business associates (“regulated entities”) when using online tracking technologies. Regulated entities need…

New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation designed to prevent New York hospitals and medical providers from employing certain collection practices against patients with medical debt. This protection became effective immediately upon the Governor’s signing.

The legislation prohibits providers and hospitals from previous collection practices of garnishing up to 10% of a patient’s paycheck…

On November 9, the Pharmaceutical Coalition for Patient Access (PCPA) filed an action against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after HHS’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that a proposed patient assistance model posed more than a minimal risk of fraud, waste, and abuse under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). PCPA…

Minimum hourly wages for many nonexempt employees and minimum salaries for exempt employees in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are scheduled to increase in 2023. Employers should begin to make plans to ensure that their hourly wages for nonexempt employees, their minimum salaries for exempt employees and their wage hour policies and practices comply…

In the next installment of Rivkin Radler’s Healthcare Compliance Lunch & Learn series, Rivkin Radler’s Ben Malerba and Ben Wisher will discuss Avoiding the Pitfalls in Recent Government Enforcement. The program will cover recent audits, investigations and actions of government agencies including DOJ, MFCU, OMIG, the NY AG, and others.  Ben and Ben will also…

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut announced on November 3 that Ananthakumar Thillainathan, a physician with offices in Stratford and Milford, pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and federal kickback violations. The doctor faces up to 20 years in prison and a restitution payment of almost $1.7 million.

Thillainathan, the owner of MDCareNow…

A Suffolk County, New York court held on November 16 that White’s Apothecary in East Hampton was not negligent when it filled a physician’s opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions as ordered. The plaintiff had claimed that the pharmacy should be liable for filling “excessive and dangerous doses” of oxycodone and Carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant, despite a…