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Group of Bipartisan Senators Inquire Into the Oversight of Nonprofit Hospitals’ Tax-Exempt Requirements and Compliance

Demonstrating that hospital finances and billing practices continue to be of interest to federal lawmakers, on August 7, a group of bipartisan senators sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) questioning the oversight of nonprofit hospitals. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Raphael Warnock … Continue Reading

CMS Plans to Implement Stricter Enforcement Efforts to Boost Hospital Price Transparency Compliance

In January 2021, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) implemented the Price Transparency Regulations (“PTR”) which required hospitals to publish prices for all their services on their websites in a user-friendly format — improving consumer access to pricing information when shopping for health services. Since implementing the PTR, CMS has seen a significant … Continue Reading

Buyer Beware: FEMA Claw Backs Could Require Hospitals to Return Funds Received from FEMA for COVID-19 Purchases and Expenses

In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals did what they needed to do to control the spread and keep patients alive.  That meant purchasing more of certain specialized equipment than they ever would have needed in non-pandemic times.  Sometimes that even meant converting a storage shed on a hospital’s parking lot to a drive … Continue Reading

Updated: Ohio Hospitals May Soon be Subject to License Requirements

Unlike most other states, Ohio does not currently have a hospital licensure system. While Ohio hospitals are subject to registration and information reporting requirements, as well as licensure requirements for certain discrete hospital services, Ohio does not require hospitals to obtain a state license in order to operate. That may change if certain provisions in … Continue Reading

HHS pirouettes back to original position that Provider Relief Fund payments may be used to replace gross revenue, not just profits, lost due to the coronavirus

On October 22, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updated its guidance on how hospitals and other providers should report their use of the nearly $135 billion in Provider Relief Fund payments that have been distributed.  The Provider Relief Fund, initially established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, is … Continue Reading

CMS Adds 11 New Approved Telehealth Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Updates Guidance to States on Medicaid Telehealth Expansion

On October 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it has expanded its list of telehealth services approved for Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).  The eleven telehealth services CMS just added are for cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.  CMS approved them using an expedited process it unveiled in … Continue Reading

For Your Eyes Only: Anticompetitive Collusion at a UK Hospital

Last week the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its decision to fine Spire and 7 consultants ophthalmologists operating in its Macclesfield hospital for fixing “the level of the initial consultation fees charged by the Ophthalmologists at the Hospital” (para 3.34). This is a classic ‘price-fixing’ decision against ophthalmologists who agreed to charge the … Continue Reading

Updated HHS Guidance on Provider Relief Fund Payments Could Help Providers Navigate Coming Oversight

On May 29, and June 2, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updated its “Provider Relief Fund FAQs” on disbursements made to providers from the $175 billion Provider Relief Fund initially established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, for expenses and lost revenues attributable to the coronavirus pandemic.  HHS’s … Continue Reading

CMS Pumps the Brakes on Additional Medicare Accelerated and Advanced Payments as it Simultaneously Deploys COVID-19 Emergency Fund Grants

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is “reevaluating amounts that will be paid under its Accelerated Payment Program and suspending its Advance Payment Program to Part B suppliers effective immediately.”  CMS explained that it is pumping the brakes because it has already made almost $100 billion in accelerated or advanced … Continue Reading

It’s Official: HHS Announces Hospitals and Medicare Providers to Get Immediate $30 Billion Disbursement of CARES Act Funding for Coronavirus Expenses and Lost Revenues

Following up on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma’s statements on Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a press release announcing the immediate disbursement of $30 billion to Medicare hospitals and providers starting April 10. These payments have been or are already in the process of being … Continue Reading

Financial Lifelines, Waivers and Other Support for Hospitals and Healthcare Systems Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic

In just the past week, the federal government has issued a flurry of legislative and regulatory aid packages, programs and rule changes for hospitals and health systems responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures are designed to give emergency financial support and to cut through regulatory roadblocks to delivering care during the crisis. The federal … Continue Reading

FCC Rules Coronavirus Triggers “Emergency” Exception for TCPA Purposes in Certain Cases

On March 20, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGAB) declared that “the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an ‘emergency’ under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and that consequently hospitals, health care providers, state and local health officials, and other government officials may lawfully communicate information about the novel coronavirus as well … Continue Reading

Court Says CMS’s 2020 Payment Cuts to Off-Campus Provider-Based Departments Are Also Invalid, But They Cannot Be Challenged Till Next Year When They Are Rolled Out

As we discussed last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will start fixing calendar year 2019 underpayments made to hospitals for outpatient services at off-campus provider-based departments. CMS explained that it will be doing this in response to a court order invalidating CMS’s 30% payment cuts to such off-campus … Continue Reading

CMS to Reverse Invalid Payment Cuts to Excepted Off-Campus Provider-Based Departments

Yesterday, in response to a court victory by several hospital associations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will begin fixing calendar year 2019 underpayments made to hospitals for outpatient services at grandfathered off-campus provider-based departments (off-campus PBDs). CMS states it has instructed Medicare contractors to “automatically reprocess” claims paid at the … Continue Reading

Is it Legal to Maximize Value of Secondary Diagnosis Codes?

By selecting a more severe Secondary Diagnosis Code for a patient, a physician may increase the reimbursement due from Medicare. If a hospital intentionally changes codes across its patient population, the increased revenue can be substantial. Is that legal? A federal district court in Texas faced this question when a relator filed suit under the … Continue Reading

Court Again Rules that HHS’s Medicare 340B Drug Price Cuts are Illegal, But Gives the Agency a Chance to “Unscramble the Egg”

As previously reported, last December the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had overstepped its bounds when it slashed the 2018 Medicare Part B outpatient reimbursement rates for covered drugs purchased under the 340B Program. AHA v. Azar, 1:18-cv-2084-RC (D.D.C. December 27, 2018). … Continue Reading

New UK study shows reduction of competition within NHS hospital market increases patient harm rates

On 31 January 2019, economists at the UK Competition and Markets Authority and London School of Economics published a new working paper on the effect of mergers between NHS hospitals on patient harm, stating that “a hypothetical merger to monopoly would, on average, be associated with a significant increase in harm rates”.  These findings have … Continue Reading

Hospital Court Victories Trigger CMS to Walk-Back Rule Lowering Caps on Medicaid DSH Payments

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has withdrawn a controversial policy, first introduced in 2010, which changes how much a Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) may receive annually in supplemental DSH payments. CMS took this action in response to several court rulings invalidating the agency’s policy. Despite the agency’s walk-back of its policy, … Continue Reading

Federal Court Held HHS Lacks the Authority to Impose Dramatic 340B Reimbursement Rate Reduction

On December 27, 2018, the provider community scored a major victory when the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that the Medicare statute did not authorize the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to impose a nearly 30% reduction in 340B Reimbursement rates. The legal implications of this decision may be … Continue Reading

Supreme Court To Decide If HHS May Skip Notice And Comment Requirements For Certain Payment Rules

On September 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had tossed out a new calculation method, employed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), which had cut Medicare payments to hospitals. Azar v. Allina Health Services (“Allina Health”). HHS itself estimated that … Continue Reading

Unauthorized TV Cameras in Hospitals Yield Costly HIPAA Penalties of $999,000

For the second time in as many years, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) entered into settlement agreements with and levied hefty fines on three hospitals that allegedly impermissibly disclosed patients’ protected health information to ABC News in the course of filming a television network documentary series.  OCR announced … Continue Reading

House Panel Examines 340B Legislative Reforms

On Wednesday, July 11, 2018, House lawmakers again signaled their intent to reform the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B) during an Energy and Commerce (E&C) Subcommittee on Health hearing. Since 2015, both E&C and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions … Continue Reading

DC Circuit Rejects HHS Rule Barring Hospital Medicare Appeals Challenging Longstanding Erroneous "Predicate Facts"

On June 29, 2018, the DC Circuit ruled that HHS could not apply in PRRB appeals a 2013 “reopening” regulation, which purports to bar the adjudication of “predicate facts” beyond 3 years after the facts had been determined. St. Francis Medical Center v. Azar (D.C. Cir. June 29, 2018). The court held that the agency’s … Continue Reading

Texas Hospital Loses Bid to Keep Secret its Reimbursement Rates

The Texas Supreme Court recently held that North Cypress Medical Center Operating Co., Ltd. cannot keep secret its private insurance and public payer reimbursement rates in litigation brought by an uninsured patient who alleges that she was overcharged for treatment. In re North Cypress Medical Center Operating Co., Ltd., No. 16-0851 (Tex. 2018) (majority opinion … Continue Reading
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