Health Care
By: Robert A. Anderson and
on March 19, 2019
A former Patient Information Coordinator (Patient Coordinator), previously employed with UPMC and its affiliate, Tri Rivers Musculoskeletal Centers (TRMC) in Mars, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to a charge of wrongfully disclosing health information, in violation of the Health Insurance Portability…
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By: Micah J. Nichols and Rodney S. Retzner
on March 5, 2019
A new year means “New Year’s Resolutions.” Many people commit to financial resolutions for 2019, whether it is eliminating debt or creating a monthly budget. Unfortunately, they neglect their estate plans. Adding estate planning to your resolutions is important for a variety of reasons, whether you…
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By: Stephanie T. Eckerle and Brandon W. Shirley
on March 5, 2019
The Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning finalized a rule impacting applied behavioral analysis (ABA) Therapy services effective March 1, 2019. Affected services providers should review and revise business policies and practices to accommodate these new changes as applicable. Note that the final…
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By: Susan E. Ziel and Brandon W. Shirley
on February 20, 2019
The process for dealing with Medicare or Medicaid overpayments is essential to any health care organization. The mishandling of overpayments can result in substantial corporate liability, including potential claims of wrongful retention of overpayments in violation of the False Claims Act. Every…
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By: Stacy Walton Long and
on February 17, 2019
The Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently entered into its final Resolution Agreement of 2018 to resolve HIPAA allegations involving Cottage Health, a California health system that serves patients throughout the state. Cottage Health provided notice of breaches of…
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By: Marc T. Quigley and Andrew W. Breck
on February 17, 2019
The OIG recently published favorable guidance in Advisory Opinion No. 19-01 regarding the waiver of cost-sharing amounts for charitable pediatric care in limited circumstances (“Arrangement”). While OIG concluded that the pediatric clinic’s Arrangement could potentially generate prohibited…
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By: Susan E. Ziel and Brandon W. Shirley
on February 4, 2019
The Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has published an annual Work Plan for many years, which typically reported on current OIG audits and evaluations, in addition to certain legal and investigative efforts, that concerned compliance issues across the many industry…
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By: Susan E. Ziel and Stacy Walton Long
on January 23, 2019
In furtherance of the many safeguards, both the HIPAA Privacy regulations, 45 CFR 164.530(b)(1), and the HIPAA Security regulations, 45 CFR 164.308(a)(5), require orientation and ongoing training programs for the Workforce. 45 CFR 160.103 defines “Workforce” to include all employees, volunteers,…
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By: Robert A. Anderson
on January 22, 2019
In 2015, California enacted the “Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act” (the “FACT Act”) requiring pregnancy centers to post notices in their facilities advising women that the State of California provided free or low-cost family planning services and…
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