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…
CMS’ recent MLN Connects e-Newsletter reminds providers of their obligation to report changes in ownership to CMS and highlighted the 2016 Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) study that revealed providers may not be properly reporting changes in…
In a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”), the OCR was clear to make a point that just because a business closes during an OCR investigation, does not mean that the business’…
A December 2017 Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) Advisory Opinion favors a gainsharing arrangement whereby a hospital will share with specific neurosurgeons a percentage of the hospital’s cost savings from spinal surgeries performed at the…
On February 9, 2018, both the House and the Senate voted to pass, and President Trump signed into law, the Bi-Partisan Budget Act of 2018 (the “Act”, House Resolution 1892). Most notably this Act extends federal appropriations through March 23,…
The Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently entered into yet another Resolution Agreement after investigating a serious breach incident involving the electronic protected health information (“e-PHI”) of over 2 million…
