On November 8, 2021, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an updated Self-Disclosure Protocol (SDP) (here). The revision of the SDP is an important...more
On October 6, 2021, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (DPH) announced a series of extensions designed to allow healthcare employers and institutions of higher education to comply with the City’s vaccine mandate....more
On September 10, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced the twentieth settlement of an enforcement action under its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative...more
On August 13, 2021, Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health (“DPH”) announced an emergency regulation mandating COVID-19 vaccines that will affect healthcare institutions and the City’s colleges and universities. Many of...more
The 24th Annual Report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that the Federal Government won or negotiated more than $1.8 billion in health care fraud...more
On August 6, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued Executive Order 252 as New Jersey and the nation continues to battle COVID-19 and the Delta variant. This most recent Executive Order takes effect on September 7, 2021...more
On July 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with several other federal agencies, issued an interim final rule to implement the first of several requirements in the No Surprises Act, which...more
On June 2, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that the Diabetes, Endocrinology & Lipidology Center, Inc., (DELC) agreed to pay $5,000, enter into a...more
On May 25, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that Peachstate Health Management, LLC d/b/a AEON Clinical Laboratories (Peachstate) agreed to pay...more
In a recent advisory opinion, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) concluded that an investment by a health system, a management company, and surgeons in an...more
On March 24th and March 26th, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced it settled its respective seventeenth and eighteenth enforcement actions as part of...more
On February 12th, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced it settled its sixteenth enforcement action as part of its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the...more
One year ago – in early 2020 – most of us did not know what COVID-19 meant (co-Corona; vi-Virus; d-disease; 19 – 2019); had no idea how to “zoom”; did not know what social distance meant; and, were largely unfamiliar with...more
2/18/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospitals ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Records ,
Medicare ,
Physicians ,
Stark Law ,
Tax Reform ,
Telehealth ,
Vaccinations
In the first settlement under the Biden Administration, on February 10th the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced a settlement of a fifteenth enforcement action...more
In one of the final health care-related actions by the Trump Administration, on January 15, 2021, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Excellus Health...more
In its first enforcement action of 2021, on January 12th, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced it settled with Banner Health its fourteenth enforcement...more
On December 22, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced a settlement of a thirteenth enforcement action under its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the...more
On November 16, 2020, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), issued a Special Fraud Alert highlighting the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) risks for pharmaceutical...more
On November 19, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced it had settled its 12th enforcement action in its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the...more
The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently announced it had settled its 10th and 11th enforcement actions in its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the...more
On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $202,400 Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan (CAP) with the City of New Haven, Connecticut...more
On October 20, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced the resolution of two (2) sets of religious discrimination complaints to ensure clergy had...more
On October 9, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced it had settled its ninth enforcement action in its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the...more
On October 7, 2020, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced it had settled its eighth enforcement action as part of its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative...more
On September 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Lakeway Regional Medical Center LLC (LRMC) in Texas agreed to pay $13,580,822.79, and Surgical Development Partners LLC, Surgical Development Partners...more