The American Relief Act, 2025, signed into law on December 21, included a short-term extension of certain telehealth waivers that went into effect in the early days of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. These waivers, for...more
1/17/2025
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
New Legislation ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Waivers
A recently issued federal court opinion confirmed that certain pre-COVID era prescribing restrictions are back in place. In July 2023, a nonprofit advocacy group, Community Oncology Alliance, filed suit against the U.S....more
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Silver Lake Hospital, a long-term care hospital in Newark, New Jersey, and some of its investors agreed to pay $30.6 million to settle claims that they violated the False...more
The 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this month, extended certain telehealth-related flexibilities that were implemented during the early...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton, NJ announced on November 22 that primary care physician Yitzchok “Barry” Kurtzer of Monsey, NY, and his wife pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving kickbacks and bribes in exchange...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced on September 18 that cardiologist Klaus Peter Rentrop and his practice, Gramercy Cardiac Diagnostic Services, P.C., agreed to pay $6.5 million to...more
On Thursday, September 14, in the next installment of Rivkin Radler’s Healthcare Compliance Lunch & Learn series, Rivkin Radler Partner Eric D. Fader will present an update on the regulatory landscape for the provision of...more
9/1/2023
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Dentists ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
PHI ,
Physicians ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Webinars
On August 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) published an Advisory Opinion warning that a common arrangement under which surgeons profit from referrals of their patients...more
The U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut announced on May 9 that Yale New Haven Health Services Corp. and Northeast Medical Group, Inc. have paid $560,718.48 to resolve federal and state False Claims Act...more
Here’s a selection of recent healthcare frauds from New Jersey. On April 17, John Sher of Margate was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.77 million in restitution and $327,987 in forfeiture for defrauding...more
To celebrate the opening of Rivkin Radler’s first Florida office, we’ll cover some recent Florida frauds. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that two Miami residents, Dean Zusmer and Lawrence...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that it has brought criminal charges against 18 defendants across the U.S. for various fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOJ seized more than $16...more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on February 27 that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), James Luketich, its Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and University of Pittsburgh Physicians have agreed to pay...more
As many of our readers are no doubt already aware, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on February 9 that the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) will end on May 11. The announcement gave payers,...more
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York recently announced that Morris Barnard, a Great Neck gastroenterologist, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for billing Medicare for procedures he never performed....more
On January 11, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally renewed the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days. The PHE, which originally went into effect on...more
On December 23, the U.S. Congress passed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,” the omnibus budget bill for fiscal year 2023 (HR 2617). The bill includes several provisions relating to Medicare coverage of telehealth,...more
Federal and state enforcement activity involving pharmacy fraud tops the list of categories in this edition of Rivkin Rounds’ Fraud Week. We’ll list just a sampling of cases....more
10/28/2022
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Bribery ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Price Inflation ,
Telemarketing
Home health-related fraud and dentists behaving badly (see this week’s earlier posts) have both been notable recent trends, but the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been even busier lately cracking down on fraud involving...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 18 that Oklahoma-based Carter Healthcare LLC and its affiliates, plus two executives, agreed to pay a total of over $30 million to resolve two separate qui tam cases....more
On October 13, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally renewed the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days....more
On August 23, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Dallas-based optical lens manufacturer Essilor International and its affiliates agreed to pay $16.4 million to settle alleged violations of the federal Anti-Kickback...more
If our most recent Fraud Week post (NY Chiropractor Billed for Non-Existent Acupuncture Services) didn’t already drive home the point, it is worth emphasizing that billing insurers for items or services that weren’t actually...more
8/26/2022
/ Bribery ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Billing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicare ,
Nurse Practitioners ,
Telemarketing ,
Wire Fraud
On July 15, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra formally extended the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days. ...more
A New York woman was sentenced last month to 78 months in prison for defrauding healthcare programs, including obtaining more than $6.5 million from Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid drug plans....more