Powerfully illustrating the efforts of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to transform the US healthcare system to a value-based model, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have finalized rules that will alter critical healthcare fraud and abuse regulations to remove or diminish obstacles to value-based enterprises that meaningfully embrace patient care coordination.
Health Law Scan
Legal Insights and Perspectives for the Healthcare Industry
Healthcare systems have been on the front lines of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and may have several questions about how to manage workforce challenges as we look toward the upcoming months.
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), all pesticide products (including surface sanitizing products) must be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prior to sale, distribution, or use in the United States.
Telehealth is a highly regulated field and legal issues can vary across payers, across states, and even across countries. Our global healthcare industry team continues to highlight how regions around the world have quickly adapted to providing telehealth services following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In China, the Chinese government has been actively promoting internet-based medicine, even before the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for telehealth services.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued two welcome announcements on October 22 relating to the CARES Act Relief Fund Provider Relief Fund (PRF). First, the agency expanded the pool of eligible recipients to “include provider applicants such as residential treatment facilities, chiropractors, and eye and vision providers that have not yet received Provider Relief Fund distributions.”
DOJ recently announced a massive coordinated effort with other federal agencies to charge 345 defendants allegedly responsible for over $6 billion in fraud. DOJ, OIG, FBI, DEA, and various US Attorneys’ Offices in 51 federal districts teamed up to unveil charges against more than 100 doctors, nurses, and licensed clinical personnel.
Our labor and employment team recently posted a LawFlash to discuss the US Department of Labor (DOL) rule change related to how prevailing wages for permanent labor certifications and labor condition applications are determined.
Our corporate and business transactions and finance teams published a LawFlash on the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recent procedural notice to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lenders addressing the treatment of PPP loans in the context of a “change of ownership” of the borrower and whether prior SBA approval must be obtained in such transactions. This LawFlash provides key takeaways for healthcare clients and healthcare industry investors with respect to M&A transactions involving PPP borrowers.
We invite you to join our labor and employment team on October 1 at 12:00 pm ET for a virtual roundtable on labor-management relations as they relate to the healthcare industry. 2020 has brought a myriad of uncertainties, especially for the healthcare industry, and we anticipate that clients may have a number of questions on how to handle these unprecedented times. The Morgan Lewis team, joined by IRI Consultants, will discuss how to address a number of labor-management-related issues today, tomorrow, and beyond.
As we continue to move away from a stifling summer and further into the busying fall season, be sure to catch up on August’s hot topics and must-reads from Health Law Scan and on-demand replays of recent webinars.