On November 5, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule that requires vaccinations for certain health care workers. The rule is limited to only those entities who are surveyed by CMS and have Conditions of Participation, Conditions for Coverage, or Requirements for Participation in the Medicare and Medicaid … Continue Reading
Search Results for: Final Rule
Health Care Providers, Health Plans, and Health IT Developers Sharing Patient Data Likely Impacted by New Final Rules
Certain health care providers, health information technology (IT) developers, and health plans could see the way they share patient information transformed following the release of two new final rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The rules address interoperability and information blocking. Reed Smith partner Nancy Bonifant Halstead and senior associate … Continue Reading
Final Rule on Amending the Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors and Civil Monetary Penalty Rules on Beneficiary Inducements
On December 7, 2016, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services published a final rule amending the safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) rules prohibiting beneficiary inducements. These changes protect certain practices and arrangements from criminal prosecution or civil sanctions under the … Continue Reading
Medicaid Rebate Program Final Rule Issued….Finally!
As previously discussed here and over on Health Industry Washington Watch here, this past Thursday, CMS and OMB issued the final, 600+ page Medicaid Rebate Program Final Rule. The pre-Federal Register version of the final rule may be accessed here. While we are still processing what this will mean for drug manufacturers and other health … Continue Reading
Final Rule Gives Patients a New Right under HIPAA to Access Completed Test Reports Directly from Labs
On February 6, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Office for Civil Rights jointly published a final rule amending the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 regulations to provide patients with direct access to laboratory test reports. HHS believes that patients should have the right to access these test reports in order to gain vital information, allowing them to better manage their health and take action to prevent and control disease. The amendments to both regulations become effective April 7, 2014, and HIPAA-covered laboratories must comply by October 6, 2014.… Continue Reading
HITECH FINAL RULE DELAYED ENFORCEMENT: PRESCRIPTION REFILL REMINDERS
On September 5, 2013, Adheris, Inc. (“Adheris”), a Massachusetts company that provides, among other services, prescription refill reminders, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services (“Secretary”), and the Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”), challenging the constitutionality of the HITECH Final Rule’s restrictions on remunerated prescription refill reminders. Contemporaneous with its lawsuit, Adheris filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction seeking to enjoin the Secretary’s enforcement of these restrictions, which was set to begin on September 23, 2013.
In a joint motion filed by the parties today seeking to suspend the court’s schedule on the Motion for Preliminary Injunction, the Secretary and HHS have informed the court that HHS expects to release guidance by September 23, 2013, on the HITECH Final Rule’s “reasonable in amount” restriction applicable to financially remunerated prescription refill reminders. The Secretary has also decided not to enforce the restrictions on financially remunerated prescription refill reminders until November 7, 2013, 45 days after the general HITECH compliance date of September 23, 2013.… Continue Reading
CMS Releases List of Teaching Hospitals; Educational Efforts and Requests for Additional Clarification Regarding the Physician Payment Sunshine Final Rule Continue
In preparation for data collection to begin under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act Final Rule on August 1, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released yesterday the list of teaching hospital covered recipients to which payments and other transfers of value must be reported by applicable drug and device manufacturers. The list, … Continue Reading
Sunshine Physician Payment Final Rule Overview and Analysis
On February 1, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the long-awaited Final Rule to implement the “Sunshine” provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The Sunshine provisions – intended to provide increased transparency on the scope and nature of financial … Continue Reading
The HITECH Final Rule: The New Privacy/Security Rules of the Road Have Finally Arrived
On January 25, 2013, the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health and Human Services published the long-awaited final regulation implementing much of the amendments and additions to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach Notification, and Enforcement Rules directed by the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH Act”).
Noteworthy provisions of the HITECH Final Rule include:
– Making Business Associates directly liable for compliance with certain requirements of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules;
– Converting subcontractors of Business Associates that create, receive, maintain, or transmit PHI on behalf of the Business Associate into Business Associates themselves;
– Requiring authorizations for all treatment and health care operations communications where the Covered Entity receives financial remuneration for making the communications from a third party whose product or service is being marketed;
– Replacing the Breach Notification Rule’s “harm” threshold with a presumption that an impermissible use or disclosure of PHI is a Breach unless the Covered Entity or Business Associate demonstrates that there is a low probability that the PHI has been compromised; and
– Mandating compliance by Covered Entities and Business Associates with applicable requirements by September 23, 2013.… Continue Reading
It’s Here: OCR Releases Long Awaited HIPAA/HITECH Final Rule
The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the Department of Health and Human Services released today the long awaited, and much anticipated, omnibus final rule modifying the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach and Enforcement Rules. The final rule, which implements the statutory requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”), is comprised of four final rules and addresses the July 2010 HITECH proposed rule, the Breach Notification and Enforcement interim final rules, as well as the October 2009 GINA proposed rule (collectively, the “HITECH Final Rule”). Notably, the HITECH Final Rule does not address the May 2011 proposed accounting and access report rule.… Continue Reading
