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.
Health Law Scan
Legal Insights and Perspectives for the Healthcare Industry
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.”
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.
In a stunning move, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has linked reporting and tracking of the incidence and impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease to satisfaction of the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for hospitals and critical access hospitals, in spite of the federal about-face that has caused confusion concerning that same reporting since the inception of the pandemic.
Partners Ayesha Waheed and Asem Bakenova and associate Daniyar Zhumakhanov have contributed to the PFI Global Infrastructure Report 2020 with an article discussing Kazakhstan’s public-private partnership (PPP) law and its application to the healthcare sector.
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.
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.