The Supreme Court finally brought clarity to the status of the separate COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which provided a vaccine-or-test requirement for employers with over 100 employees, and the rule issued by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), which mandated vaccination for employees of providers who receive Medicaid or Medicare funding.
On November 4, 2021, CMS issued the highly anticipated Informal Rule with Comment Period requiring employees of Medicare and Medicaid-participating health care facilities to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
On August 18, 2021, President Biden announced that his administration will require Medicare and Medicaid-participant nursing homes to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding.
On December 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) amended the current declaration triggering federal immunity under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.
On Monday, August 3, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing various federal agencies to take steps advancing the adoption and availability of telehealth.
Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced two more targeted allocations of provider relief funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) has published guidance for behavioral health providers preparing to restart in-person services.
Establishing and maintaining a unified medical staff is not without its challenges and hurdles. This Health Care Alert outlines some considerations health systems should evaluate when contemplating a unified medical staff structure.
On May 6, 2020, CMS issued Quality, Safety, and Oversight (QSO) letter 20-29-NH, explaining the Interim Final Rule’s new COVID-19 reporting and notification requirements.
On April 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule with comment period (IFC) that, among other things, adds new COVID-19-related reporting requirements to the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for long-term care facilities (LTCFs).
On April 14, 2020, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) submitted a request for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to approve a State Plan Amendment (SPA) and waivers of specified regulatory requirements.
On March 30, 2020, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued 18 blanket waivers of sanctions under the physician self-referral law (Stark) to provide vital flexibility for physicians and providers in the fight against COVID-19.
The wide-reaching CARES Act provides significant additional support to the health care industry inundated by the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily in the forms of new funding and regulatory relief.
In response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government and states have reviewed requirements affecting the ability of health care providers to use and receive reimbursement for the provision of services via telemedicine.
On January 10, 2020, the Department of Justice announced that a Kentucky woman admitted in federal court that she solicited kickbacks from a toxicology laboratory in exchange for urine drug testing referrals, lied to law enforcement agents about the kickback she received, and then attempted to cover up the kickback by requesting the alteration of certain financial records.
A U.S. House Subcommittee recently held a hearing to discuss potential reforms to the Medicaid 340B program. Although it remains unclear exactly what will come of these discussions, here are the top three changes 340B providers should watch for.
Jonathan Ishee and Nita Garg, health care attorneys in the Vorys Houston office, co-authored an article for the Houston Business Journal’swebsite titled “Texas Senate Passes Bill Easing Restrictions on Telemedicine.”
Jolie Havens, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and chair of the health care group, authored an article for Becker’s Hospital Review titled “Significant Reduction to Hospital Provider-Based Reimbursement Looms For New, Off Campus Sites.”
Jolie Havens, the chair of the firm’s health care group, and Stephanie Angeloni, an associate in the health care group, co-authored an article for Crain’s Cleveland Business titled “Legislative Action Impacting Medicare Provider-Based Payment Means Big Change for Hospitals.”
In a much anticipated opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld an Idaho district court’s order mandating the unwind of a merger between two health care providers in Nampa, Idaho after determining that the merger violated § 7 of the Clayton Act. In the wake of the FTC’s recent and heightened enforcement in the health care industry, St. Alphonsus Medical Center-Nampa, Inc. v. St. Luke’s Health System, Ltd., No. 14-35173, (9th Cir. Feb. 10, 2015), offers important insight into the hotly debated interplay between the integration encouraged under the Affordable Care Act and the operation of federal antitrust laws.
On March 20, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted a “Transition Plan Toolkit” to assist states in developing their Home and Community-Based Settings (HCBS) 1915(c) waiver and section 1915(i) state plan amendment or renewal application(s) so that they comply with new requirements in the HCBS Final Rule, released earlier this year.
On October 30, 2013, in a letter to Representative Jim McDermott, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius clarified that qualified health plans (QHPs) available in the health insurance Marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are not “federal health care programs.”
In a recently published policy memorandum, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided guidance regarding the automatic assignment of Medicare Provider Agreements upon a change of ownership.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released final regulations on the excise tax imposed on the sale of certain medical devices (the Device Tax) under the Affordable Care Act. The Device Tax will impact the sale of any taxable medical device by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of the device, at a rate of two-point-three percent (2.3%) of the sale price.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued two rulemakings aimed at alleviating procedural and administrative burdens on providers in response to the president's Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.
As we discussed in a prior client alert, the Ohio Certificate of Need (CON) Program was changed to permit some inter-county bed relocations. Historically, Ohio CON law has prohibited relocating long-term care beds across county lines.
Jolie N. Havens
Jennie L. Church