In its 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (PFS Rule), CMS finalized a regulatory change that updates supervision requirements for Registered Radiologist Assistants and Radiology Practitioner Assistants...more
On November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2019 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (PFS Rule), which contains a number of significant substantive changes to Medicare payment practices...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced last week that it has discovered unauthorized users have attempted to hack into its online trademark system to attempt to make unauthorized changes to active trademark...more
10/29/2018
/ Airspace ,
Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Credit Security Freeze ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Drones ,
Employee Training ,
General Electric ,
Hackers ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal Ethics ,
New Legislation ,
Risk Management ,
Small Business ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
USPTO
On August 17, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems final rule for Fiscal Year 2019 (Final Rule). The Final Rule contains a number of important...more
On February 2, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released Transmittal 3971 (Change Request 10412), which revises a section of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Manual), that provides guidance...more
In a Draft Call Letter issued February 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is considering a number of new strategies to address opioid overutilization within the Medicare Part D...more
2/12/2018
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Comment Period ,
Drug & Alcohol Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicare Part D ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Substance Abuse
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a rare advisory opinion (CMS-AO-2017-1) under the Stark Law (Section 1877 of the Social Security Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1395) earlier this fall, addressing a...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued guidance intended to help clinicians eligible for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) navigate an attestation required thereunder concerning the...more
11/6/2017
/ Alternative Payment Models (APM) ,
CEHRT ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization (MACRA) ,
MIPS ,
PHI ,
Physician Medicare Reimbursements ,
Quality Payment Program (QPP)
US-CERT Warns of New Ransomware: Bad Rabbit -
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is warning companies in the U.S. about a new ransomware dubbed “Bad Rabbit.” US-CERT stated it has received multiple...more
11/3/2017
/ Airspace ,
Biometric Information ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Drones ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Fingerprints ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hilton ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Hyatt ,
Information Technology ,
Internet of Things ,
LG Electronics ,
Malware ,
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization (MACRA) ,
MIPS ,
NASA ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
US-CERT
On October 14, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule with comment period (Final Rule) implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The Final Rule...more
10/28/2016
/ Alternative Payment Models (APM) ,
CEHRT ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization (MACRA) ,
MIPS ,
Physician Medicare Reimbursements ,
Physicians ,
PQRS ,
Quality Payment Program (QPP) ,
Rural Health Care Providers ,
Value-Based Payments
DOJ, NY AG REACH SETTLEMENT WITH HOSPITALS IN LANDMARK 60 - DAY RULE CASE -
On August 24, 2016, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the New York State attorney general announced a $2.95 million...more
9/7/2016
/ 60-Day Rule ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicare Part A ,
Medicare Part B ,
Overpayment ,
Overpayment Recovery Time Limits ,
Physician Assistants ,
Settlement ,
Vaccinations
On August 5, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance to nursing homes in a letter to state survey agencies that addresses nursing homes’ obligations to protect residents. The Letter focuses on...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced it will implement a pre-claim review demonstration for home health services. The three-year demonstration will apply to home health services performed in...more
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released a compendium (Compendium) of its top unimplemented recommendations. The Compendium comprises 25 unimplemented past OIG...more
On February 12, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule (Final Rule) interpreting the application of Section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act (the 60-Day Rule) to over payments...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a final rule (Final Rule) that implements the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model (CJR Model), a new bundled payment program covering certain...more
CHANGES TO STARK LAW, NEW ADVANCE CARE PAYMENTS INCLUDED IN 2016 PHYSICIAN
FEE SCHEDULE -
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a final rule (Final Rule) regarding physician payment...more
On October 29, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (jointly, the “Agencies”) issued a final rule (Final Rule) regarding waivers...more
On October 16, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule (Final Rule) that streamlines Stage 2 and finalizes Stage 3 of the Medicare and Medicaid electronichealth record (EHR) Incentive...more
11/4/2015
/ CEHRT ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
EHR ,
Electronic Health Record Incentives ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Meaningful Use ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Reporting Requirements
On August 3, 2015, the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York issued a long-awaited opinion and order rejecting a motion to dismiss filed by the defendants in U.S. ex rel. Kane v. Continuum Health...more
8/21/2015
/ 60-Day Rule ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part A ,
Medicare Part B ,
Overpayment ,
Overpayment Recovery Time Limits ,
Whistleblowers
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a favorable advisory opinion (Advisory Opinion) to a nonprofit health system (System) and a nonprofit psychiatric hospital (Center) regarding a proposal whereby the...more
8/18/2015
/ Advance Directives ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Employees ,
Fair Market Value ,
FQHC ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Non-Profit Hospitals ,
OIG ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Physicians ,
Rural Health Care Providers ,
Stark Law ,
Timeshare
President Obama recently signed into law Public Law No. 114-10, the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015” (P.L. 114-10), which overhauls Medicare physician reimbursements by eliminating the use of the...more
On March 30, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) setting forth meaningful use criteria for Stage 3 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive...more
On May 11, 2015, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed into law Public Act 15-4, “An Act Concerning Reporting of Payments by Manufacturers to Independently-Practicing Advanced Practice Registered Nurses” (P.A. 15-4)....more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) implementing Stage 3 of the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) Incentive Programs (Meaningful Use...more