The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) that would significantly scale back the non-discrimination regulations applicable to health care entities under the authority of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This Proposed Rule, issued on May 24, 2019 and scheduled … Continue Reading
The HHS Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) published a final rule May 18, 2016, broadening the nondiscrimination requirements applicable to all health programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance from HHS, those administered by HHS, and Health Insurance Marketplaces. The final rule implements section 1557 of the ACA and adds two important categories of protections: … Continue Reading
As noted in our recent Health Industry Washington Watch blog post, outgoing House Speaker John Boehner and the Obama Administration have reached agreement on a two-year, $80 billion budget/debt-ceiling deal that includes Medicare and Medicaid “offsets” to finance other spending. For manufacturers of generic pharmaceuticals marketed under abbreviated new drug applications, Section 602 of the proposed … Continue Reading
In a case dating back several years, the first judicial opinion interpreting the Affordable Care Act’s “60-Day Overpayment Rule” in a False Claims Act case was recently issued by the Southern District of New York. In Kane v. Healthfirst, Inc., et al., the court found in favor of the DOJ, denying the defendant hospitals’ motion … Continue Reading
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
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
As the dust settles from Tuesday's election, pundits and prognosticators are predicting the future of the world based on highly charged and deeply polarized perspectives. Those predictions are sweeping in scope and many we have seen tend toward dire scenarios - even for the diagnostic imaging industry. The more prudent course is to step back for a moment and assess the situation in a more pragmatic and dispassionate way. With this in mind, we wanted to take this opportunity to describe what we expect to see as health reform efforts continue.… Continue Reading
This post was also written by Ruth N. Holzman and Angelo Ciavarella. Yesterday the House approved by a vote of 270-146 legislation to repeal the ACA’s controversial 2.3% excise tax on the sale price of certain medical devices, which is scheduled to apply to sales after December 31, 2012. The repeal provision is included in H.R. 436, the … Continue Reading
This post was also written by Ruth N. Holzman and Angelo Ciavarella. A vote on legislation to repeal the ACA’s medical device excise tax could come in June, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced today. The ACA imposes a 2.3% excise tax on the sale price of medical devices sold by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of the … Continue Reading
This post was also written by Thomas W. Greeson. Providers and suppliers have until April 16, 2012 to comment on the proposed rule to implement provisions of Section 6402(a) of the Affordable Care Act that require “persons” receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds to report and return overpayments no later than 60 days after the date … Continue Reading
On July 8, 2011, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it had awarded Myers and Stauffer, LC a contract to prepare a monthly survey of retail community pharmacy (“RCP”) prescription drug prices. The contract is in furtherance of CMS’s commitment to develop and publish “Average Acquisition Cost” (“AAC”) data reflecting RCPs’ purchase … Continue Reading