On July 14, 2020 Connecticut Governor Lamont issued Executive Order No. 7HHH, in which the Governor modified state law to enable the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health (DPH) to temporarily suspend licensure,...more
On July 2, 2020 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance documents on the allowance of telehealth encounters for the Eligible Professional and Eligible Clinician electronic clinical quality...more
On June 12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued timely HIPAA guidance (Guidance) regarding solicitations of blood and plasma donations from recovered COVID-19 patients....more
On June 9, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it would distribute up to $25 billion of CARES Act Provider Relief Funds to safety net hospitals and state Medicaid and Children’s Health...more
On May 22, 2020 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a 45-day extension of the deadline for providers who receive payments from the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund to accept the Terms and Conditions...more
On May 8, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule with comment period (the “Interim Rule”) in the Federal Register, setting forth additional regulatory waivers and other...more
On April 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule with comment period (April 30 Interim Rule), building on previous regulatory waivers and other revisions to regulations issued...more
Amidst the cavalcade of regulatory and policy changes from federal and state governments intended to help health care providers confront the COVID-19 pandemic, on April 21, 2020 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...more
5/6/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Physicians ,
Self-Referral ,
Stark Law ,
Waivers
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently issued four new executive orders to address the COVID-19 state of emergency (Executive Orders 7CC – 7FF) that contain provisions relevant to health care providers and facilities in the...more
On April 9, 2020 the Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued another Notification that it will exercise its enforcement discretion and not impose penalties for HIPAA violations in connection...more
On April 3, 2020 the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Policy Statement to notify health care providers and other parties subject to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) that the OIG will not impose administrative...more
Governor Lamont issued two new executive orders designed to expand the health care workforce, immunize providers from COVID-19-related liability, and protect patients from out-of-network bills for COVID-19 treatment. On April...more
Microsoft Issues Cybersecurity Risk Warning and Offers Help to Hospitals During COVID-19 Crisis -
On April 1, 2020, Microsoft issued a specific warning to health care entities alerting them that they are at particular risk...more
4/6/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Microsoft ,
OCR ,
Popular ,
Telemarketing ,
Vulnerability Assessments
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law. The CARES Act is designed to distribute capital quickly and broadly to help alleviate the economic impact of COVID-19,...more
On March 30th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued blanket waivers (Blanket Waivers) of sanctions under the federal physician self-referral law (Stark Law) to relax regulatory requirements related to...more
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Drug Control Division (DCP) has issued guidance for health care providers regarding refills and reissuances of controlled substance prescriptions for patients without an...more
The Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) issued its third guidance document related to CON requirements related to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 25, in which OHS waives CON approval requirements for hospitals seeking...more
Having been “inundated with questions from both state regulators and the regulated community about how to handle the current extraordinary situation,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a temporary...more
On March 27, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act, or the Act), Public Law 116-136, a trillion-dollar stimulus bill intended to provide financial assistance to individuals and...more
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to sweep the nation, the "Families First Coronavirus Response Act" (FFCRA) was approved by Congress and signed into law by the President on March 18, 2020, in an attempt to...more
4/1/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EFMLA ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
New Legislation ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits ,
Trump Administration
COVID-19 Vaccine Test Lab Hit by Maze Ransomware -
Despite the fact that the hackers behind Maze ransomware previously promised not to hit medical organizations during the coronavirus pandemic, the ransomware recently...more
3/31/2020
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Drones ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Ransomware ,
Spam ,
Telecommuting ,
Telehealth
On March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued new HIPAA guidance to help providers and first responders in efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic....more
On March 24, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a joint statement on COVID-19-related antitrust enforcement highlighting ways “firms, including competitors, can engage in...more
On March 20, the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) issued new guidance (Guidance) on the process for requesting a certificate of need (CON) waiver for projects related to the COVID-19 response. See our analysis of...more
On March 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued additional guidance in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on HIPAA and telehealth services to help providers furnish care during the...more