On October 14, 2022, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14036, directing the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to consider innovative actions to drive down certain single-source prescription drug costs as the Biden-Harris Administration works to implement the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “Act”).
Continue Reading Inflation Reduction Act Imposes Prescription Drug Pricing Reforms
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has further expanded the list of telehealth services that Medicare Fee-For-Service will pay for during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) as of October 14, 2020. CMS is adding 11 new services to the Medicare telehealth services list and will begin paying eligible practitioners who furnish these services immediately and through the end of the PHE. The new telehealth services include neurostimulator analysis and programming services, and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services.
Continue Reading CMS Looks Beyond COVID-19 for Telehealth Expansion
On August 4, 2020, the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) released an FAQ regarding whether a clinical laboratory may provide free antibody testing to federal health care program beneficiaries (e.g. Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries). In its FAQ, the OIG acknowledged that providing such testing would implicate two federal anti-fraud statutes–the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMPL). However, so long as the laboratory implemented certain safeguards, the arrangement would pose a sufficiently low risk that OIG would not pursue an enforcement action.
Continue Reading OIG Guidance on Fraud and Abuse Implications of Free Covid-19 Antibody Testing by Laboratories