On April 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released new guidance which requires hospitals to obtain informed consent from patients before practitioners, or medical or other students, perform...more
4/9/2024
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Hospitals ,
Informed Consent ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Examinations ,
New Guidance ,
Patient Privacy Rights
On October 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), which is tasked with enforcing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), issued two new...more
10/23/2023
/ Data Protection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Information Technology ,
New Guidance ,
OCR ,
Patient Access ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
Beginning June 21, 2023, New York State (NYS) Public Health Law (PHL) Section 2830 requires hospitals and healthcare professionals to provide written notice to patients before the patient is charged a facility fee....more
It is axiomatic that New York State requires every Medicaid provider to have an “effective” compliance program. New York Social Services Law § 363-d. In July 2022, the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General...more
The federal government’s announcement that the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”) declaration would end on May 11, 2023 marked the end of various federal mandates and benefits. The Centers for Disease Control’s...more
7/28/2023
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Health and Safety ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
New York recently enacted new legislation that will amend Article 45-A of the New York Public Health Law, entitled “Disclosure of Material Transactions”. Although the legislation, as enacted, contains no description of...more
On June 8, 2023, the New York City Council passed a bill focused on healthcare accountability, with the goal of increasing access to healthcare services for New Yorkers. Entitled the Healthcare Accountability & Consumer...more
7/6/2023
/ Audits ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
City of New York ,
Drug Pricing ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
New Amendments ,
Reimbursements
In September of this year, New York City Councilwoman Julie Menin announced her plan to introduce a series of bills that would create further price transparency requirements for hospitals, with noncompliance resulting in high...more
The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine recently received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for individuals 18 and older, making Novavax the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to receive either...more
As we previously reported, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) interim final rule (the “Rule”) requiring full COVID-19 vaccination for staff and others at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and...more
On December 13, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the petition of New York health care workers seeking to stop the State from enforcing regulations requiring covered personnel of hospitals, nursing homes,...more
On November 19, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives (“the House”) narrowly passed the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376, or “the Act”), a spending bill appropriating nearly $2 trillion for measures to expand the country’s...more
On November 4, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule (the “Rule”) requiring COVID-19 vaccination for staff at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers. The...more
11/8/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Physicians ,
Vaccinations
The Biden administration announced on September 10, 2021, the criteria for release of a $25.5 billion fourth tranche of COVID-19 relief funds. As with the other rounds of funding, the money is being made available to a wide...more
On July 19, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a proposal that would significantly increase the fines that would be imposed on hospitals for price transparency violations. This proposal,...more
On December 2, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published in the Federal Register companion final...more
12/21/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
One of the many relief efforts contained in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), signed into law on March 27th, 2020, is a hiatus of sequestration as it applies to Medicare payments....more
On the heels of its passage by the U.S. Senate two days earlier, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (the “Act”) was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 23, 2020, and signed into...more
While the business and personal relief provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) are understandably receiving the greatest coverage in the immediate aftermath of the bill’s signing,...more
On March 13, 2020, when President Trump declared a national emergency under the Stafford Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services utilized his authority to take particular actions, such as temporarily waiving or...more
4/2/2020
/ 1135 Waivers ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
EMTALA ,
Executive Orders ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Waivers
In response to the growing concerns of the capacity of the health care workforce as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 24, 2020 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, issued a letter and associated...more
3/30/2020
/ 1135 Waivers ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Relief Measures ,
Secretary of HHS ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
We hope that everyone is staying safe during the COVID-19 crisis. State health departments are, of course, doing what they can to facilitate management of transmission of COVID-19 by healthcare providers. ...more
3/19/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Response ,
Federal Funding ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicare ,
New Legislation ,
Physicians ,
Public Health ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Trump Administration
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the 2019 novel coronavirus (known as “COVID-19”) is now a pandemic. The effects continue to be felt in the United States, which currently has well over 1,000...more
3/17/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Contingency Plans ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Immigrants ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Public Health ,
Screening Procedures ,
Sick Leave ,
Travel Ban ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Traveling Employee ,
Trump Administration
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is now a pandemic. The effects continue to be felt in the United States, which now has well over 1,000 confirmed novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)...more
3/16/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Supplies ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Preventive Health Care ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Strategic Planning ,
Threat Management ,
Trump Administration ,
Workplace Safety
As discussed in an earlier blog post, the New York state Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (or “SHIELD Act”), was signed into law on July 25, 2019....more
3/2/2020
/ Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Management ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Security Standards ,
SHIELD Act ,
State and Local Government ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes