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
On August 1, 2025, CMS issued a final rule updating the Medicare rates and policies applicable to inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) under the IRF Prospective Payment System (PPS) and the IRF Quality Reporting Program...more
On July 24, 2025, the OIG released reports evaluating the prevalence of patient harm in hospitals and the extent to which hospitals detect and report such events. These evaluations follow up on OIG’s 2022 report and provide...more
Among the many sweeping changes to the Medicaid program included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”), Congress established new statutory caps on state-directed payments (“SDPs”) in Medicaid managed care. SDPs have...more
The Calendar Year 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule (see Orrick’s analysis of the proposed rule here) contains important signals for the future of remote patient monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched the WISeR Model (Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction) to modernize and streamline Medicare’s prior authorization process. ...more
CMS recently announced a new model it will be using to pilot the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in reviewing prior authorizations submitted for certain services CMS has identified as being at greater risk...more
On June 12, 2025, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed into law two major healthcare reform bills — H.266 and S.126 — marking a coordinated legislative effort to curb healthcare spending and enhance regulatory oversight in the...more
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)’s oversight of prior authorization criteria for behavioral health services (BHS) by Medicare...more
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report determining that there is a nontrivial risk that prior authorization requirements, together with internal coverage criteria, may undermine the Medicare...more
CMS announced this month that it does not anticipate using federal funds to match state funds for designated state health programs (DSHP) and designated state investment programs (DSIP) under its section 1115 demonstration...more
The Hospital Price Transparency Law, codified at 45 CFR Part 180 and effective as of January 1, 2021, was implemented to provide the public with accessible hospital pricing information, aiming to eliminate hidden fees and...more
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a pivotal ruling in the consolidated lawsuit American Clinical Laboratory Association v. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) challenging FDA’s final rule to end...more
Key points include access to medicines in medicare is reduced as the IRA is implemented; fewer drugs are covered on Medicare Part D formularies in 2025 relative to 2024; medicines for serious conditions with high unmet needs...more
As spring arrived in the mid-Atlantic region, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. followed through with a previously announced Reduction in Force (RIF) that reduced the department’s...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
Last week, OIG’s Office of Audit Services released its latest report on Medicare Administrative Contractors’ (MACs) compliance with Medicare cost report oversight requirements. The report, which is titled Medicare...more
On March 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans for a “reorganization of the Office of the General Counsel” (OGC) “[a]s part of the department’s ongoing efforts to advance the...more
On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced plans to close six of the nation’s 10 regional offices for the HHS Office of the General Counsel (“OGC”). These closures, which...more
CMS recently expanded its Provisional Period of Enhanced Oversight, or PPEO, in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas, and its enforcement activities nationwide appear more aggressive. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg...more
As government scrutiny and enforcement targeting the Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) program continued in 2024, the industry’s response to agency actions escalated. Last year also resulted in the first sizable Part D...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2025 Home Health Prospective Payment System final rule (Final Rule) expanded the scope of providers subject to a provisional period of enhanced oversight (PPEO) to include...more
A new inspector general report finds that Medicare Part C reimbursement to private insurers increased by $4.2 billion in 2023 for diagnoses from home visits despite leading to no additional treatment. ...more
Telehealth companies and other industry stakeholders have had a watchful eye towards the end of 2024 and the impending “telehealth cliff” as COVID-era Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) flexibilities and Medicare expanded...more
In what it describes as a “First-of-its-Kind Healthcare Generative AI Investigation”, the Texas Attorney General (AGO) recently reached a settlement agreement with an artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare technology...more
On September 24, 2024, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a report titled, “Additional Oversight of Remote Patient Monitoring in Medicare Is Needed” (the...more