Legislation passed this session in the Iowa General Assembly adopts new requirements and restrictions for health care employment agencies that provide health care entities with agency workers who provide nursing or other...more
On November 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released long-awaited final rules revising regulations implementing the Physician Self-Referral Law (known as “Stark”). Simultaneously, the Office of...more
Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled the IRS’ interpretation of a key ACA provision is invalid. Specifically, the court found that the IRS did not have the authority to interpret...more
A small county in Washington has agreed to pay $215,000 to settle allegations that it violated HIPAA by failing to secure electronic protected health information. Skagit County maintained protected health information (“PHI”)...more
On Friday, the Department of Treasury announced on its blog that it intends to provide an exemption to the employer penalty provisions for volunteer firefighters and emergency services personnel. According to its blog post,...more
November, a federal district court granted partial summary judgment for the Department of Justice in U.S. ex. Rel. Baklid-Kunz v. Halifax Medical Center, ruling that productivity bonuses paid to employed physicians violated...more
This morning the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department released additional Frequently Asked Questions relating to implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Among the topics discussed...more
Tuesday evening the Treasury Department announced that it would delay enforcement of the employer shared responsibility penalty provisions, often referred to as “Play or Pay”, until 2015....more
Earlier this week the IRS released the updated Form 720 which plan sponsors and third party administrators must utilize when reporting the Patient Centered Outcome Research Fee....more
You may have woken up today to media reports of large employers exploring the idea of dropping traditional health plans in favor of very limited health care plans as a way to lessen the burden imposed on large employers for...more
Today the Department of Labor released guidance and model notices for employers to use when informing employees of the availability of health insurance on the statewide exchange....more
The Office of Civil Rights for Health and Human Services is launching a nationwide review of the language access policies of critical access hospitals following a 10 state review in 2012. These reviews will include an...more
Earlier this week the Agencies issued a revised Summary of Benefits & Coverage (“SBC”) template for use in describing health plan coverage that begins on or after January 1, 2014 and before January 1, 2015. ...more
Last month HHS proposed regulations that would delay implementation of the employee choice requirement in SHOP Exchanges until 2015. We’ve received a number of calls asking what the delay means....more
Yesterday HHS, IRS, and DOL published proposed regulations implementing the waiting period restrictions of the Affordable Care Act. As expected, health plans may not impose a waiting period that is longer than 90 days from...more