US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on August 3 that aims to expand telehealth access to Medicare beneficiaries beyond the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE) period. The executive order focuses on rural healthcare providers in particular, noting the difficulties patients in rural areas face in obtaining accessible, high-quality healthcare services over the years.
Health Law Scan
Legal Insights and Perspectives for the Healthcare Industry
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances within the healthcare industry that may provoke further crisis for hospitals, nursing homes, physicians, and other frontline healthcare providers in the form of potential liability claims for noncompliance with COVID-19 protocols or other standards.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought a dramatic shift from in-person healthcare visits to telehealth services around the world, unveiling a new normal for providing healthcare services.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it intends to resume both prepayment and postpayment medical reviews conducted by the Medicare Administrative Contractors, Supplemental Medical Review Contractors, and Recovery Audit Contractors, including those under the Targeted Probe and Educate program, on August 3, 2020.
Healthcare is a highly regulated space, and regulators are continuing to issue new policies and regulations to address the critical needs for goods and services to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19), while also protecting the public health. Companies beyond just healthcare and life sciences should be aware of the relevant regulatory and legal requirements to avoid enforcement and liability requests.
Much to the relief of the healthcare provider community, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson Michael Caputo tweeted on Monday that HHS intended to extend the public health emergency that was declared earlier this year.
As coronavirus (COVID-19) cases begin to surge in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order No. GA-27 on June 25 to preserve hospital bed availability for COVID-19 patients.
Congressional stimulus packages appropriated $175 billion in relief funds under the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Acts for the benefit of hospitals and other healthcare providers in response to losses incurred due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
As we continue to look forward to a new post-pandemic reality, our NOW. NORMAL. NEXT. resource page has a number of recent publications that our friends of Health Law Scan may be interested in.
With just days left until provider attestations are due related to acceptance of CARES Act Provider Relief Funds, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recently been updating its FAQs, providing some additional clarity, and potentially confusion, surrounding the acceptance of Relief Funds from its initial tranche $30 billion of General Distribution payments. Attestations for the first tranche of payments on April 10 are due May 25, and HHS continues to furnish guidance regarding the details of the General Distribution Relief Fund.