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 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018 (the “Act”) was signed into law by President Trump on December 22, 2017. It is heralded as making the most significant changes in corporate taxation in the US in more than 30 years. The Act makes changes to C…
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…
Governor Eric Holcomb is expected to sign legislation aimed at curbing Indiana’s growing opioid crisis, one of Governor Holcomb’s top agenda items for the 2018 legislative session. Senate Enrolled Act 221 (“SEA 221”) requires prescribers to have…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently issued guidance (MLN Matters SE17033 – Revised) re-emphasizing that Medicare should not pay an acute care hospital for services furnished to a Medicare beneficiary, when the beneficiary…
As reported in our previous Employee Benefits ALERT, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided several changes affecting qualified retirement plans. On February 9, 2018, Congress passed, and President Trump signed into law, the “Bipartisan Budget Act of…
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by President Trump on December 22, 2017 included a requirement that modifications of cost-of-living adjustments be made to certain statutory limits based on the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban consumers…
The Department of Labor (DOL) expanded the claims procedures for disability benefits in final regulations issued on December 19, 2016 with a delayed effective date of April 1, 2018 (“Final Regulations”). The Final Regulations expand the current…
On February 1, 2018, the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Georgia in In re: Kenneth R. Pierce found that the printed name on the debtor’s driver’s license was the name that was important for Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) security…
