We are proud to announce that Diane J. Romza-Kutz has joined our Chicago office where she will focus on assisting Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical industry clients with federal and state regulatory matters, licensing and Intellectual Property matters. Diane brings substantial experience handling federal food and drug matters, Federal Trade Commission matters and U.S. Department of
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Husch Blackwell and Texas-based law firm Brown McCarroll will combine ranks effective July 15. With this merger, our firm will have one of the largest healthcare law practices in the country with over 110 attorneys focused on the healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceutical industries.
The merger will provide even greater depth to our healthcare practice…
We are excited to announce that Husch Blackwell has been ranked in the Top Ten Firms for 2013 by the American Health Lawyers Association. The firm is ranked 9th on the list, up from 14th place last year. We are proud to be associated with AHLA and the expertise in healthcare law that its members exhibit.
Husch…
On May 18th2013 HHS gave state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (State Attorney General MFCUs) more power to data mine for patterns of overpayments, waste, fraud or abuse. They expect these new resources to have an almost 7 to 1 return on investment to the United States government. Providers should expect to see more…
On February 1stthe long overdue final rule of the Sunshine Act was released. The Act aims to increase transparency relating to payments and investments held by physicians and teaching hospitals. For those many physicians who have entered into some type of contractual relationship with a manufacturer, taking the time to familiarize themselves with…
On April 17, 2013, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) updated the OIG’s self-disclosure protocol (SDP). This update significantly revises the SDP first published in 1998, and supersedes the OIG’s related open letters to providers from 2006, 2008 and 2009. To date, the OIG has processed 235 settlements and monetary recoveries in excess of $280…
In August 2002, the United States Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) issued a Special Advisory Bulletin relating to offering gifts and inducements to beneficiaries of Title XIX (Medicaid) programs. Since the States operate their Medicaid programs under the direction of HHS-CMS, it has generally been considered in the health law community…
This post was prepared by Toni Blackwood and Tim Hilton, labor and employment attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
Following 12 months of public comment, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a revised Form I-9 on Friday, March 8, 2013. The form has a new look, contains more specific instructions and solicits additional information. Although the form is available for use now, it becomes mandatory in May 2013.
Every U.S. employer is required to record on Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 the employment authorization and identity of every person hired in the U.S. High profile enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), growing employer experience with high administrative fines resulting from ICE I-9 audits, and the public debate over illegal immigration have combined to raise awareness in recent years of the importance of Form I-9 to all employers. These factors all make it vital that employers have a clear understanding of the form itself and how to complete it.
The new form contains additional data fields, such as those asking for the email address, telephone number (both optional) and foreign passport number for the employee in Section 1. The new form includes a prominent warning to new employees of the consequences of using false documents or making false statements when completing Form I-9. This is an important addition, as ICE has pursued remedies against individuals for using false documents and for making false claims of citizenship on Form I-9. There are also overall improvements in the form’s layout, making the employer’s Section 2 easier to read and understand. Perhaps the most obvious change is that the form has expanded to two pages.
