Pandemic

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Hospital at Home

The Acute Care Hospital at Home model (ACHAH) provides traditional hospital inpatient acute-level services at home.  Prior to the pandemic a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid pilot study yielded positive results with respect to hospital readmission rates and follow-up emergency department visits. The ACHAH model appears to be a feasible alternative to traditional inpatient acute care that can improve quality of care and patient satisfaction. What was previously a trickle of interest turned into a wave of necessity as the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals and the health care system in 2020. In response to the pandemic, CMS began to provide hospital with broad regulatory flexibility to implement the ACHAH model.

AHLA Podcast

Theresa Langley joined AHLA’s Speaking of Health Law podcast to discuss how the pandemic has changed the lives of working moms. She discusses what life was like before the pandemic and how everything changed in March 2020, the transition to remote work and school, and challenges related to childcare. She also shares tips and strategies…

Not So Common Employment Questions

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.

Not So Common Employment Questions

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.

Team of healthcare workers

As mandated by President Biden’s January 21 Executive Order, OSHA has announced a National Emphasis Program (NEP) designed to protect workers from contracting COVID-19.  On March 12, 2021, OSHA announced its new national emphasis program that targets high-risk establishments in high-risk industries for programmed inspections and provides a heightened focus on employers that retaliate against employees who report or complain about unsafe working environments. In conjunction with the NEP, OSHA also issued an updated Interim Enforcement Plan to provide guidance on the policies and procedures it will employ to reduce and eliminate the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace. The issuance of the NEP is a strong indication that OSHA enforcement activity will increase in the short term.

Virtual Series

Please join Husch Blackwell as we go virtual with our Health Law Conference. The series will include a range of important topics relevant to the healthcare industry. The webinar programs will be offered every Thursday from October 1 through November 19.

Our first session will include a panel discussion on a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The

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