A recently issued federal court opinion confirmed that certain pre-COVID era prescribing restrictions are back in place. In July 2023, a nonprofit advocacy group, Community Oncology Alliance, filed suit against the U.S....more
A recent Advisory Opinion (No. 23-15) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that a healthcare consulting company’s plan to offer gift cards to physician practices...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released two resource documents to help healthcare providers explain the privacy and security risks of telehealth to their patients....more
As many of our readers are no doubt already aware, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on February 9 that the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) will end on May 11. The announcement gave payers,...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on January 25 that 25 defendants have been indicted in Florida for their involvement in the sale of more than 7,600 fraudulent diplomas, and fake transcripts, from three...more
I don’t know how to say it any more clearly. Somehow, medical and dental practices continue to get roped into responding to negative patient reviews on Yelp, Google, or elsewhere online, and posting any identifying...more
On January 11, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally renewed the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days. The PHE, which originally went into effect on...more
On October 13, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally renewed the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days....more
On July 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert to caution healthcare practitioners who may wish to enter into arrangements with telehealth...more
7/27/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Billing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Telehealth ,
Unnecessary Medical Procedures
On July 15, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally extended the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days. ...more
On April 12, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra extended the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days. The PHE had been scheduled to expire on April 16....more
On March 28, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced four new enforcement actions against healthcare providers for HIPAA violations....more
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...more
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...more
On September 30, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it issued guidance to clarify that the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not prohibit businesses from asking customers,...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $954 million to 1,292 community health centers across the U.S. for capital improvements. The funds, to be provided by HHS’s Health Resources and Services...more
The federal government will delay for six months its enforcement of key portions of the Transparency in Coverage (TiC) final rule that goes into effect on January 1, 2022. The change was announced in guidance issued jointly...more
In an April 15 notice on its COVID-19 portal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) reminded healthcare providers that COVID-19 vaccines must be administered at no out-of-pocket...more
For those providers who somehow missed or ignored the first 15 settlements in the series, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that Sharp HealthCare, doing...more
Flo Health, Inc., which markets a menstrual and ovulation tracking app, recently entered into a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to dispose of charges that Flo improperly shared consumer data with third...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on January 28 that athenahealth Inc., a Massachusetts-based electronic health records (EHR) technology vendor, has agreed to pay $18.25 million to resolve allegations that it...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the 14th settlement in its ongoing HIPAA Right of Access Initiative. Banner Health, a Phoenix-based health system that operates 30...more
On January 12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a final rule on “Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement Actions.” The rule, which was effective immediately, states that...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released an audit report on HIPAA compliance by 166 covered entities and 41 business associates during 2016-2017. The audits included...more
A proposed rule released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on December 10 would give healthcare providers more flexibility to share patients’ health information for certain purposes. The rule, titled...more