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Kelsey Toledo

Kelsey works closely with hospitals, health systems, cooperatives, health care associations, physician specialty groups, assisted living facilities, clinical laboratories, and durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers on a wide range of healthcare compliance issues including:

  • False Claims Act (FCA)
  • Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS)
  • Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law)
  • Licensing
  • Medicare and Medicaid enrollment and payment
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
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In a Policy Statement released on April 3, 2020, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will exercise its enforcement discretion and not impose administrative sanctions under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) for certain financial arrangements related to COVID-19 covered by the blanket waivers issued by the Secretary of HHS on March 30, 2020 (the Blanket Waivers). The Blanket Waivers apply to sanctions for potential violations of the federal Physician Self-Referral Law (also known as the Stark Law) with respect to specific “COVID-19 Purposes,” which Husch Blackwell summarized in a recent blog. The OIG’s Policy became effective upon release (while the Blanket Waivers are retroactively effective March 1, 2020), and will terminate upon termination of the Blanket Waivers, unless otherwise specified by the OIG.

hospital buildingOn April 3, 2020 the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) released DQA Memo 20-001, which establishes the process for hospitals and critical access hospitals (collectively, “hospitals”) to temporarily expand acute care inpatient services in order to maintain the health and safety of hospital patients during the COVID-19 public health emergency. This guidance is provided in conjunction with the blanket waivers recently issued under § 1135 of the Social Security Act by the Center for Medicare and Medicare (CMS). The CMS blanket waivers relieved certain regulatory burdens imposed on healthcare providers, such as the ability to expand inpatient beds to enable healthcare providers to focus on providing care during the current public health emergency.