On April 27, 2021, the United States Tax Court held that legal fees incurred by generic drug manufacturers in connection with “Section 271(e)(2)” patent infringement suits are deductible as ordinary business expenses and need not be capitalized. The opinion contradicts longstanding IRS field advice, and has potential applicability to generic drug manufacturers and others who have capitalized legal fees in recent years.
On April 2, 2021, the Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury (collectively the “Departments”) jointly released nine (9) questions and answers (“FAQs Part 45”) related to recent changes made to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “Appropriations Act”).
FAQs
In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske and Bryan Nowicki discuss the new wave of CMS Center for Program Integrity (CPI) audits that have been issued during the past couple weeks. These CPI audits remain focused on long length of stay patients and typically involve hundreds of claims valued at over $1 million. As Meg
As vaccine distribution becomes widespread, and employees begin to return to work, we continue to field questions related to return-to-office plans in a post pandemic world. We previously compiled a list of FAQs, addressing COVID-19 safety protocols (here, here and here) that should be considered as the workplace opens for business. Below are some additional, and recent, considerations related to this topic.
In today’s episode of Hospice Insights: The Law and Beyond, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske is joined by colleagues Bryan Nowicki and Erin Burns to discuss the recent denial of physician visits. Over the last several months, a number of auditors have begun questioning the medical necessity of billed physician visits, claiming the physician services were
Missouri’s Senate advanced Senate Bill 63 this week in a move to become the last state in the Nation to create a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (“PDMP”). The bill would establish a Joint Oversight Task Force for Prescription Drug Monitoring, if adopted by the House of Representatives and signed by Governor Parson.
The increase in physician practice mergers and acquisitions across most specialties is projected to continue for the foreseeable future. Healthcare attorneys Joe Geraci and Kate Bechen present alongside Brian Teefey, CPA and Corey Palasota of Weaver on a webinar addressing a multitude of transaction considerations including strategic, legal and financial. Register today: https://lnkd.in/emMy_xp
As 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 two questions many of our clients have asked during the past week. 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.
On February 25, 2021, the Wisconsin Legislature enacted 2021 Wisconsin Act 4 (the “Act”), which, in part, grants immunity to business entities from civil liability related to COVID-19 exposure, with certain exceptions.
Specifically, the Act immunizes certain entities from civil liability for any act or omission in the course of performance or provision of the entity’s function or services, that leads to death or injury to an individual or damages caused by an act or omission resulting from or relating to exposure directly or indirectly to COVID-19 (or its variants), or conditions associated with the infectious disease. However, civil immunity does not extend to acts or omissions that are reckless, wanton conduct, or intentional misconduct.
Over the coming months, we can expect to see many significant changes to labor issues affecting healthcare and other sectors of our marketplace. The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) is almost certain to reinstate the standards of what constitutes an appropriate bargaining unit as set forth in a 2011 case, Specialty Healthcare, allowing unions to