The State of Healthcare Enforcement
Hospice Insights Podcast - Election Inspection: Be Proactive to Avoid Costly Election Statement Denials
Medicaid Cuts: Potential Challenges and Legal Implications for Long-Term Care Facilities — Assisted Living and the Law Podcast
False Claims Act Insights - How Payment Suspensions Can Impact FCA Litigation
Federal Court Strikes Down FDA Rule on LDTs - Thought Leaders in Health Law®
UPIC Audits
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 8: Hospice Special Focus Program: Pumping the Brakes
Hospice Insights Podcast - Upping the Ante: Will CMS’s Enhanced Oversight Efforts Cause Hospices to Fold?
Podcast — Drug Pricing: What’s in the New CMS Medicaid Final Rule?
Hospice Insights Podcast - What a Difference No Deference Makes: Courts No Longer Bow to Administrative Agencies
Preparing for CMS Staffing Mandates — Assisted Living and the Law Podcast
Hospice Insights Podcast - Meet the New Laws, Same as the Old Laws: Overpayment Recoupment Update
Podcast — Drug Pricing: Takeaways From the Chicago Medicaid Drug Rebate Program Summit
Podcast — Drug Pricing: How the Demise of Chevron Deference and Other Litigation May Impact the Pharmaceutical Industry
The CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Rules
Podcast — Drug Pricing: How Are Payers Responding to the IRA?
Findings from Gibbins’ Annual Healthcare Bankruptcy Report
A Fond Farewell: Musings on the End of the Medicare Advantage Hospice Carve-In Demonstration
Video: Braidwood v. Becerra – Challenging the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Services Coverage Provision – Thought Leaders in Health Law
In a recent Aetna newsletter update (also referred to as OfficeLink), Aetna advised that it would change its reimbursement approach for emergent or urgent inpatient stays that span at least one midnight at facilities that...more
Health plan members of AHIP and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association made news earlier this week when they announced a series of steps that a broad swath of health insurers will take to improve the prior authorization...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG), issued a Special Fraud Alert (Alert) focusing on financial arrangements involving Medicare Advantage (MA) Organizations...more
On May 1, the federal government brought a False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit against three health insurers, as well as three insurance brokers. The Justice Department’s suit alleges that the insurers paid millions of dollars in...more
Health Policy Fireside Chat: What to Expect from the New Administration - Bill Mathias, Member at Bass, Berry & Sims, engaged in a fireside chat with Colin Roskey, Principal at FHP Strategies, former Deputy Assistant...more
Attorneys from Ropes & Gray attended the Medicarians Conference from March 31 to April 2, a premier event for Medicare Advantage (MA) and other health insurance brokers, agents, and distribution arms, as well as regional and...more
Two recent announcements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offer early indicators as to how the Trump administration, including CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, may approach the Medicare Advantage (MA)...more
Early signs from the initial months of the Trump administration indicate that fraud and abuse enforcement related to the Medicare Advantage program (“MA”) remains a bipartisan focus, as evidenced by the recent statements from...more
On March 25, 2025, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.S. (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the No Unreasonable Payments, Coding, or Diagnoses for the Elderly (No UPCODE) Act (the “Bill”)....more
The giant firms that track trends for big businesses have glum news for all of us: Health care costs are spiking anew this year. The rise, one consultancy predicts, will be the highest in 13 years....more
The Medicare program continues to face long term financial pressures associated with inflationary effects on health care costs and the growing wave of aging baby boomers. The Medicare Trust Fund, which is often viewed as a...more
A few weeks ago, Regs & Eggs provided insights into Medicare Advantage (MA), the private insurance option under Medicare, and explored both short- and long-term actions that the Trump administration could take to modify MA...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) significantly changed the popular Medicare drug programs. While an IRA policy goal is to reduce the out-of-pocket drug spending, beneficiaries may experience higher drug plan premiums and...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the Calendar Year (CY) 2026 Advance Notice, proposing updates to payment policies for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Programs. This...more
When I investigated and litigated False Claims Act (FCA) cases at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over the last 10 years, I was often surprised by just how little I knew about the broad array of government agencies and...more
On October 31, Elevance Health filed suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to challenge the 2025 Star Ratings system used for Medicare...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued regulations applicable to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans—also commonly referred to as managed Medicare or Part C Medicare—in April 2023 (CMS 4201–F) that address,...more
We are in the midst of a storm of regulations that are being released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Calendar Year (CY) 2025...more
The District of Columbia federal court recently ruled that a proposed $37 billion merger between health insurance giants Aetna and Humana cannot proceed, granting the US Department of Justice’s bid to block the combination on...more
On Friday, Mintz Levin Health Law and ML Strategies posted an advisory on CMS’s proposed Medicaid Managed Care rules. This advisory provides contextual background, a helpful overview of the rule’s contents, and an in-depth...more
Senator Grassley issued letters this week to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) related to potential fraud in the Medicare Advantage program. Citing news articles, DOJ...more
A Pennsylvania judge found, on May 6, 2015, that a Medicare Advantage Plan had no right under its participation agreements to pass CMS sequestration reductions through to participating providers. Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr....more
CMS hosted a webinar yesterday focusing on best practices for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan Sponsors looking to enhance their Star Ratings. As described in our article and previous blog posts, Star Ratings...more