A federal judge rejects healthcare company’s “C” plea as not good enough. Lessons from this decision apply to any healthcare provider trying to negotiate a specific sentence with the federal government. A summary of the judge’s criticism follows a short background about a C plea. Types of Guilty Pleas Federal Criminal Rule 11(c)(1) governs plea agreement procedure. It … Continue Reading
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein promises an enforcement environment in which businesses can thrive. In a keynote address given at the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, he emphasized the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) commitment to “avoiding unnecessary interference in law-abiding enterprises.” Rosenstein’s reassurance to the business community also included an apparent slight to … Continue Reading
In the September 2013 edition of the Cleveland Bar Journal, Colin Jennings and Tom Zeno described the government’s determination to challenge medical decision making as medically not necessary. To read the article, visit Uncle Sam Becomes a Doctor: Government Challenges to Medical Necessity. Recent prosecutions have been born out of their prediction. In October 2013, … Continue Reading
On October 20, 2011, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission jointly issued their “Final Statement of Antitrust Enforcement Policy Regarding Accountable Care Organizations Participating in the Medical Shared Savings Program.” The policy statement, which largely mirrors the agencies’ proposed policy statement issued on April 19, 2011, outlines how the agencies will enforce U.S. … Continue Reading
The proposed CMS rules for accountable care organizations have only been out a few hours and even the speediest readers are still plowing through them, but a few initial observations are in order: CMS is admitting it needs more than the usual amount of public comment to craft final rules. Perhaps this was intentional but … Continue Reading
Several important antitrust points of interest in the hot-off-the-presses ACO regulations issued today: The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have a new challenge – figuring rules of the road as joint administrators of the ACO antitrust review process, acting through a newly formed joint working committee. The agencies will either have to … Continue Reading
