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
On May 28, 2021, a group of Houston Methodist Hospital employees filed a lawsuit challenging the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees. The lawsuit, filed by 117 employees, was the first to challenge a health...more
9/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
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
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 Friday, April 24, 2020, President Trump signed into law the “Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act,” colloquially referred to as “Phase 3.5.”
Phase 3.5 comes on the heels of three much larger bills...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has taken numerous steps to minimize regulatory burdens for providers who need to make their primary focus delivering patient care during...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 March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’’ (“CARES Act”). The CARES Act is the third phase of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus following two...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
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many health care providers have had a myriad of HIPAA questions, including questions about whether they can share some types of information and, if so, the type of information they can share with...more
In light of the novel coronavirus pandemic, health care practitioners should be aware of relaxed guidelines for prescribing controlled substance. This blog post describes when practitioners can prescribe controlled substances...more
This post provides an update on a number of HIPAA waivers that have just been made available to health care providers: (1) Waivers for hospitals in the initial 72 hours of enacting a disaster protocol; and (2) Waivers for all...more
Will HIPAA obligations be relaxed or waived in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States? They could be. This blog post contains information that is helpful to understand in preparation for such possibility....more