Hooper, Kearney and Macklin on Cutting Edge Topics in the False Claims Act
Polsinelli Podcast - Health Care Payment Changes: From Service to Value
New Mexico’s gross receipts tax (what the state calls its sales tax) is generally imposed on receipts derived by the seller from performing services in the state; however, a resale of the services is not generally taxable if...more
Rural emergency hospitals (REHs) are a new provider type that will allow Medicare to pay for emergency department and other outpatient hospital services in rural areas beginning on January 1, 2023, without requiring the...more
On 26 July 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the 2023 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System proposed rule (the OPPS Proposed...more
Beginning in 2023, Medicare will recognize a new provider type: the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH). The establishment of REHs is intended to preserve access to emergency departments and other outpatient services in rural...more
While the pandemic put many things on hold, it did not do the same for the False Claims Act (FCA). To find out what is happening in FCA activity we spoke with Patrick Hooper, Jordan Kearney and Alicia Macklin, partners at the...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 30, no. 2 (January 18, 2021) - CMS is taking back money from hospitals for outpatient clinic visits provided in 2019 at excepted off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) after returning...more
Year-end COVID-19 relief legislation approved by Congress established Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs) as a new Medicare provider type effective January 1, 2023. REHs, defined as providers that furnish certain outpatient...more
On December 4, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revised its Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (Relief Fund) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), indicating that providers must return Relief...more
As the coronavirus spreads throughout the country, hospitals and other health care providers are finding themselves inundated with patients. Those providers who are in-network with payors have and will likely continue to...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released several fact sheets on COVID-19 coverage and benefits, and announced a second Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code, U0002, for billing COVID-19...more
On Thursday, February 20, 2020, hospitals represented by King & Spalding that operate excepted off-campus provided-based outpatient departments (PBDs) filed their brief in federal appeals court to preserve the victory they...more
Four separate government releases coming over a three-week period have once again highlighted the intense interest in the 340B drug pricing program, with a federal agency and two government watchdog groups issuing guidance...more
On October 31, 2019, the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an important memo from Kelly M. Cleary, CMS Chief Legal Officer, and Brenna E. Jenny, Deputy General...more
The CMS proposed regulation issued on October 17, 20191 provides much needed clarity on the question of when compensation is deemed to vary with the volume or value of referrals or other business generated between the...more
n November 1, 2019, CMS posted the final rule establishing the payment rates for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Payment System for calendar year (CY) 2020...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a False Claims Act (FCA) decision calling into question productivity-based physician compensation structures under the Stark Law, in reliance on a controversial...more
On September 17, 2019, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia awarded summary judgment in favor a group of more than 40 hospitals on their challenge to CMS’s decision...more
On July 10, 2019, CMS announced a new proposal for episode-based payment for radiation oncology services. The aim of this new proposal is to determine whether episode-based payment to hospitals, physician groups, and...more
In a major win for providers that serve a disproportionate share of indigent patients, the Supreme Court today upheld the D.C. Circuit’s earlier decision invalidating CMS’s policy to treat beneficiaries enrolled in Part C...more
On January 15, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Azar v. Allina Health Services, a prominent case involving a challenge by hospitals over when Medicare’s instructions to its contractors impact a “substantive...more
On January 15, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a hotly-contested case involving a challenge by hospitals over when Medicare’s instructions to its contractors impact a “substantive legal standard” and thus...more
CMS took another step in its campaign to impose "site neutrality" on hospital outpatient payments with its recently published final Medicare hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule for CY 2019. The final...more
Is the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or the government) required to engage in notice and comment rulemaking when it changes a requirement that has an important impact on hospitals' reimbursement? As we reported...more
As the Trump Administration moves forward with proposed policy changes to address high drug prices, a common theme is emerging: a number of the proposals have the potential to reduce Medicare reimbursement to hospitals and...more
On July 12, 2018, CMS issued proposed revisions to Year 3 of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) in the rule entitled Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2019;...more