Hospitals & Health Systems

In March 2014, President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to prepare and propose new FLSA regulations. These new rules were to be announced late last year, but have been repeatedly delayed. Now it appears the new rules will be announced later this month. While the scope of the changes is unknown, it is anticipated the changes will reduce the number of employees who qualify for exempt status.

On Jan. 26, 2015, Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced the goals and a timeline of the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) to move the Medicare program, and the healthcare system at large, toward paying providers based on quality, rather than quantity, of care they give to patients.

Brian G. Flood of Husch Blackwell LLP‘s Austin office participated in a recent forum on “Managing Fraud and Bribery Risks in the Healthcare Sector.”

The Q&A Forum forms part of a Special Report on Corporate Fraud & Corruption, which appears in the February 2015 issue of Financier Worldwide magazine.

For the Q&A Forum, Financier…

Due diligence is often perceived as a mundane part of the mergers & acquisitions (M&A) process, but its importance in healthcare transactions is critical. Due diligence is one of the first steps of any transaction and involves a buyer undertaking an in-depth examination of the target to evaluate the business and uncover potential issues or liabilities. In the healthcare industry, diligence is especially important considering the heavy regulation of the industry, the unique areas of risk, and the significant liabilities that could be imposed upon a buyer if issues and liabilities are not identified before the transaction closes.

It’s time to begin preparing H-1B petitions for an early April filing and Oct. 1, 2015, effective date.

Advance planning is crucial. Due to the improving economy and the backlog of demand from April 2014, the H-1B cap will likely be exceeded again this year. Employers that fail to file H-1B petitions on April 1 may lose the opportunity to employ the intended foreign national candidate.

The American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) Fundamentals of Health Law conference, Nov. 12-14 in Chicago, featured Husch Blackwell Partner Cori Turner as a speaker and key member of the planning committee.

The conference primarily focused on ensuring attendees gained an understanding of laws and regulations for the health law industry, including Stark and Anti-Kickback, False Claims Act, antitrust, tax and HIPPA regulations. Its goals also included increasing knowledge of the legal challenges faced by hospitals, physicians, long-term care providers and managed care organizations, as well as learning about the impact of the health reform law on the healthcare industry.

A Dec. 1 Strafford webinar on the legal and regulatory challenges of Ebola will feature five Husch Blackwell attorneys. The 90-minute CLE webinar with interactive Q&A will provide guidance to healthcare counsel and their clients in addressing HIPAA and EMTALA concerns when treating Ebola patients.

The panel will discuss state and federal mandatory reporting requirements, employment issues and lessons learned from the first U.S. Ebola cases.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a bulletin on Nov. 10 reminding entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that the protections continue to be in effect during emergencies, including Ebola and other outbreaks. HHS wants to make sure healthcare providers are aware of the ways in which patient information may be shared under the HIPAA Privacy Rule in emergency situations.

The Texas Health & Human Services Commission (HHSC) proposed changes on Oct. 17, 2014, to its regulations that largely prohibit “incident to” billing for advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and physician assistant (PA) providers. Specifically, changes proposed to Tex. Admin. Code Title 1 §§354.1001 and 354.1062 prohibit a service performed by an APRN or PA from being billed under the billing number of a supervising physician unless the physician made a decision regarding the patient’s care or treatment during the billable medical visit and documented that decision in the patient’s record. See 39 Texas Register 8107 (Oct. 17, 2014).

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a proposed rule Oct. 2 that would add new safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) regulations and interpret existing, statutory safe harbors. The rule would also amend the Civil Monetary Penalties (“CMP”) regulations by adding statutory exceptions to the regulatory definition of “remuneration” and codifying the so-called “gainsharing CMP” found in the Social Security Act.