In today’s episode of Hospice Insights, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske shares her recent wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Kathleen Benton of Hospice Savannah, where they explore how good business planning starts and ends with good questions and strong ethics.
Last week, in the case of Rocky Mountain Association of Recruiters v. Moss, Case No. 1:20-cv-03819 (U.S.D.C. Colo.), U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez denied a plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction to block portions of Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEWA). The EPEWA, which went into effect beginning this year, aims
jCyte, Inc., a biotech company dedicated to improving the lives of patients with retinal degenerative diseases, today announced the further expansion of the company’s executive management team with the appointment of John Sholar as general counsel. The full piece can be found here: https://bit.ly/3uj3qzX
A heartfelt congratulations to John from the Husch Blackwell Healthcare,
1. I have a unionized workforce. Do I need to bargain before mandating that my employees are Covid vaccinated before reporting to work?
With the CDC largely ending mask requirements for those who are Covid vaccinated, many employers will look anew at whether they will require vaccinations for their employees to participate in the workplace. While this whole topic raises a myriad of questions related to vaccine certificates, maintenance of medical records, and exceptions that might apply to employees because of religious or health accommodations, an entirely separate question comes up as to whether employers may mandate their union workforce to be vaccinated in order to work.
Since mid-2020, many pharmaceutical manufacturers have introduced policies that scope their offering of 340B pricing, including limiting contract pharmacy arrangements and requiring covered entities to submit claims data. These policies have generated a good deal of attention generally, and a significant number of covered entities have made attendant complaints to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
More than half of the nations’ physicians now work as salaried employees. The remainder of physicians, who are primarily in large independent groups, are contemplating their next move.
In a recent webinar presented by Weaver, “Before Buying or Selling Your Physician Practice, Listen to This,” we provide insightful commentary about what is happening in the marketplace, along with transaction considerations.
As more businesses begin to reintegrate employees into their pre-pandemic workplaces, many of our clients have questions regarding return-to-work issues. In this edition of Funny You Should Ask, we address three questions many of our clients have asked during the past few weeks. The answers below focus on compliance with federal law. As always, employers will need to take state and local laws into consideration in addition to federal law.
The Texas Legislature in April passed H.B. 1445, which adopted amendments to the Texas sales tax law regarding medical and dental billing. Governor Greg Abbott on April 30, 2021, signed the bill, which aims to clarify the state law that has been in force since 1987.
Since last year, the Husch Blackwell privacy attorneys have been working with various healthcare providers—from hospitals to hospices, to independent physician groups—to comply with the Information Blocking rule (the Rule) implemented by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. Recently, Education clients have been asking, “We’re a university – does the Information Blocking rule apply to our student health center?” We discuss the answer to that question, along with practice tips, in this blog post.
As of April 27, 2021, 29.1% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. With COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expanding to the general public, and states and cities relaxing COVID-19 restrictions, employers face the new challenge of navigating a partially vaccinated workforce. We previously addressed questions related to return-to-work and vaccination issues for employers here. Below are some additional, and recent, questions we’ve received from clients related to this topic.