There is a lot going on right now for healthcare employers. The first phase of CMS’s vaccine mandate is in full effect nationwide (now including Texas), the CDC has changed masking guidance in some circumstances, and it has...more
Health care employers are not alone in feeling overwhelmed by the constantly changing legal status of the various federal vaccine mandates. On Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court made its rulings on two preliminary...more
1/18/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On November 29, 2021, a federal court in Missouri enjoined the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) vaccine mandate in the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire,...more
11/30/2021
/ Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OSHA ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published their much-anticipated rules mandating COVID-19 vaccinations. ...more
11/9/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
New Guidance ,
Physicians ,
Popular ,
Preemption ,
Stays ,
Supremacy Clause ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
As we have previously written, the landscape for employers in the time of COVID-19, particularly healthcare employers and long term care facilities, is ever-changing and quickly moving. In the last year, healthcare employers...more
8/19/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Funding ,
Guidance Update ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
Mandatory Requirements ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations
On June 10, 2021, Dorsey’s Labor & Employment attorneys outlined an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) issued by OSHA. At the time, the ETS was not an official regulation because it had not yet been published in the Federal...more
6/24/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Safety Precautions ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
One of the last pieces of legislation the Iowa legislature sent to Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk for guaranteed signature was a bill banning vaccine passports in Iowa. House File 889 contains several prohibitions regarding...more
6/11/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Governor Reynolds ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
New Guidance ,
New Legislation ,
Nursing Homes ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Vaccinations ,
Vaccine Passports ,
Workplace Safety
In just two weeks, on January 19, 2021, a sweeping set of changes to the federal physician self-referral law (or “Stark Law”) and anti-kickback statute (“AKS”) regulations go into effect. These changes, which are part of the...more
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) launched what it calls a “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” to accelerate a transformation of the healthcare system, with a focus on removing “unnecessary...more
12/3/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
OIG ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
SAMHSA ,
Stark Law
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) launched what it calls a “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” to accelerate a transformation of the healthcare system, with a focus on removing “unnecessary...more
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) each released their much-anticipated final rules to revise the federal...more
On March 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued certain blanket waivers of sanctions under the federal physician self-referral law (or “Stark Law”) for “COVID-19 Purposes” (the “Stark Blanket...more
On March 30, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a compilation of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers (each, a “Blanket Waiver”). Section 1135 of the...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to rapid and drastic changes to health care delivery in the United States, including as it relates to arrangements between health care providers and physicians that may implicate the federal...more
On Monday, March 23, 2020, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released Frequently Asked Questions on Medicare Provider Enrollment Relief related to COVID-19 (“FAQs”), available here. The recent Public...more
On March 22, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a press release that it is granting exceptions from reporting requirements and extensions for upcoming data submission and measure reporting...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently posted two annual updates related to the physician self-referral law (“Stark Law” or “Stark”) on its Stark website: (1) CPI-U updates related to the nonmonetary...more
In the calendar year 2020 Medicare physician fee schedule final rule (“PFS”), which was published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2019 (available here), CMS finalized changes to the advisory opinion process under the...more
11/21/2019
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicare ,
OIG ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Physicians ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Request For Information ,
Stark Law
In 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (the “Department”) launched what it calls a “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” to accelerate a transformation of the health care system, with a focus on removing...more
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) each released their long-anticipated proposed rules to revise the federal...more
10/11/2019
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
OIG ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
SAMHSA ,
Stark Law
For years, CMS has informally applied restrictions for hospitals which share space, equipment, staff or services in the same physical location (i.e., “co-locate”) with other hospitals or health care entities. Although these...more
On April 22, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two sweeping new payment innovation models under the Primary Cares Initiatives. The models will seek to incentivize primary care and other...more
4/26/2019
/ ACOs ,
Alternative Payment Models (APM) ,
Cardiac Episode Payment Program ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
CMMI ,
Episode Payment Models (EPM) ,
Fee-for-Service ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Physicians ,
Request For Information ,
Value-Based Care
Today, the Federal Government announced enforcement actions against 60 defendants in eleven federal districts, including 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners, and seven other licensed medical professional...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is “actively working” on updates to regulations under the federal physician self-referral law (or “Stark Law”), according to CMS Administrator Seema Verma during a March 4,...more
Perhaps lost amid the healthcare news coverage of competing proposals regarding “Medicare for All” and the repeal of Obamacare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) last month announced the expansion of its...more