A May 29, 2018 United States Attorney’s Office District of Minnesota press release reported that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Sam’s West, Inc. (d/b/a Sam’s Club) have agreed to pay a total of $825,000 to resolve allegations that the stores violated the…
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “Act”) changed the IRS partnership audit rules effective as of January 1, 2018. The changes to the partnership audit rules are unrelated to the much-publicized Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, but the new…
On May 9, 2018, the Indiana State Department of Health issued a proposed rule to amend certain regulations governing the Newborn Screening Program in 410 Indiana Administrative Code 3-3 (the “Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule amends the list of…
In March 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a newsletter entitled, “Plan A… B… Contingency Plan!” While contingency plans are already required under the HIPAA Security Rule1, OCR’s newsletter…
The Indiana Commission to Combat Drug Abuse (“Commission”) met on Thursday, May 3, 2018 to continue its collaboration and work to combat various drug and addiction issues in Indiana.
Several updates on current initiatives were first provided,…
The Office of the Secretary of Family and Social Services finalized LSA Document #17-342, which is a rule amendment that impacts Indiana Medicaid home health service providers (“Final Rule”).[1] In general, the Final Rule seeks to align Indiana home…
In April 2018 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published guidance entitled “Risk Analyses v. Gap Analyses – What is the difference?” (the “Guidance”).[1] This Guidance is extremely helpful for both…
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (“BBA”) was signed into law February 9 and funds the federal government through March 23. Additionally, the legislation contains significant health care policy changes. Of important note are dramatic increases to…
On April 27, 2018, CMS announced four (4) new proposed rules to “advance administrative burden reduction, Medicare modernization, and the Meaningful Measures Initiative.” These proposed regulations apply to the following payment systems: (i) Skilled…
The Indiana Legislature recently made several significant and common sense changes to Indiana’s medical consent statute (I.C. 16-36-1-1 et. seq.) and added a new section to the Indiana Code about Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) forms…
In February 2018, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) revised its MLN Booklet on Telehealth Services (the “Telehealth Booklet”).[1] Medicare continues to be fairly restrictive in terms of reimbursing telehealth services. While the…
On March 14, 2018, Governor Eric J. Holcomb signed into law a measure that provides for significant streamlining of the prior authorization requirements for health care services covered by commercial health insurance plans in Indiana that are not…
