Join Husch Blackwell Partner Bruce Arnold and Anthony Long of Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting for a live 90-minute CLE webinar presented by Strafford on Wednesday, March 31 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm EDT. This CLE webinar will guide healthcare counsel through the new changes under the new Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and the impact on physician
Thursday, October 8, 2020 – Live Webinar | Noon – 1:00 p.m. CDT
Please join Husch Blackwell as we go virtual with our Health Law Conference. The series will include a range of important topics relevant to the healthcare industry, and are set to be moderated by Curt Chase, leader of the firm’s Healthcare, Life Sciences and Education team; Hal Katz, American Bar Association, Health Law Section, Chair; and Tom Shorter, American Health Law Association, President-Elect Designate. The webinar programs will be offered every Thursday through November 19.
Our second session on October 8 will include a discussion on various aspects of how and why physician-hospital alignment models may change post-COVID-19. REGISTER NOW
Two new federal rules will make it easier for consumers to access, use and transmit their personal healthcare information using an app on their smartphone or tablet. The regulations implement prior legislation and advance the current Administration’s intent to empower patients to be better consumers and transform the healthcare industry.
The two final rules were released on March 9 by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS): from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program final rule; and, from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the final rule on Interoperability and Patient Access.
Updated April 3, 2020
In response to the growing Coronavirus pandemic, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) will make loans available to businesses that employ fewer than 500 people (and in certain instances a larger number of employees) through the new Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). In this post we address some of the most frequently-asked questions about the PPP, and how eligible healthcare entities can apply.
At Husch Blackwell we understand the financial hardships our healthcare industry clients face in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. While you have no doubt heard about the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act signed into law on Friday, March 27, 2020, we want to make sure you are aware of the estimated $377 billion in Small Business Administration (“SBA”) relief that may be available to you as an eligible small business. We encourage you to act immediately so that you may secure funding as quickly as possible.
There is a trend in healthcare toward customer-centrism—placing the interests of the consumer before all other considerations. The trend may be slow in its growth, but for those healthcare organizations that embrace the idea and obsess over improving the consumer’s experience throughout their healthcare journey, there can be a payoff. But improving consumer experience in healthcare takes a commitment and courage to venture outside of traditional comfort zones.
For years, the polarized debate over healthcare policy has included advocacy for a more consumer-directed healthcare system. The argument in favor says consumers and providers alike must have more skin in the game—financial responsibility—and better information with which to make more consumer-like decisions. For providers, the “skin” means risk-based contracts. For consumers, it means higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket cost exposure. There has been significant movement in this direction.
Time is running short on the opportunity to comment on a proposed rule further increasing transparency in hospital pricing. The rule was released July 29 and was quickly panned by providers and insurers over provisions requiring hospitals to publicly disclose the negotiated rates they have with third-party payers.
Comments on the rule are due September 27, 2019.
Action by the federal government to increase price transparency in health care is not new, of course. Section 2718(e) of the Public Health Service Act (PHS) was added by the Affordable Care Act to require all hospitals to make public, upon request, the standard charges for the items and services they provide.
Bipartisan legislation to address surprise medical billing was introduced June 19 in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Most notable for health insurers and providers is the way the bill tackles the biggest sticking point in the issue—mandating a benchmark rate to avoid pay disputes between health insurers and non-network providers.
Surprise medical billing is commonly the result of care received in an in-network facility, such as a hospital, but that included the services of a non-network provider, such as an anesthesiologist who is based at the in-network facility.
If you track national health care policy developments, you’ve been busy lately.
Following weeks of growing declarations from Democrats in support of Medicare for All, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tamped down exuberance over any plans to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Then the US Justice Department spoke up.
In a March 25 statement to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Justice Department lawyers said US District Court Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling should be affirmed—that the entire ACA coverage mandate is unconstitutional, and since the provision is inseverable from the ACA, the entire Act is invalid. The ACA remains in place as the District Court ruling is under appeal.
First in a series.
Like it or not, the 2020 presidential election campaign is well underway. With it comes the latest in public policy ideas, including more attempts to overhaul health care in the U.S.
The phrase “Medicare for All” has captured the minds, if not the hearts, of several candidates and an impressive portion of the voting public. It has shifted the conversation about health care in politics, at least temporarily, away from both “repeal and replace” and “protect the Affordable Care Act.”