Michael Cassidy

Subscribe to Michael Cassidy's Posts

Can Medicare Premiums for the Account Holder’s 65 Year Old Spouse be Reimbursed from an HSA?

By: Joni Landy, Esq.  

In general, the law prohibits distributions from an HSA for health insurance premiums. There are several exceptions. The only exception that can apply to Medicare premiums is the exception that allows for payment of health insurance (other than a Medicare supplemental policy) in the case of an account holder who has reached age 65 (the "65 Exception").  Continue Reading Health Savings Account Sticky Issue

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its fiscal year 2008 Work Plan, identifying investigation projects for the coming fiscal year relating to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Following is a copy of pages 3 through 13 of the 2008 OIG Work Plan, which identify the investigation projects for hospitals and physicians.Continue Reading OIG Issues 2008 Work Plan

ORLANDO SENTINEL REPORTS

HOSPITALS HIRING MORE PHYSICIANS

The Orlando Sentinel  published a recent article indicating that hospitals are increasing their direct employment of physicians, citing statistics from national physician recruiters about the increase in recruiting arrangements, and opining that one of the biggest reasons for this national trend is that “physicians are sick of the…

MORE STARK III CHANGES:

PHYSICIAN RECRUITMENT

There have been a number of definitional or technical changes to the physician recruitment exception.

·        The definition of the hospital’s geographic service area, which was previously the area composed of these contiguous zip codes from which the hospital drew 75% of its inpatients, has been tweaked to…

CMS ISSUES STARK ADVISORY OPINION PROHIBITING

 AMENDMENT OF RECRUITMENT AGREEMENT

On October 3, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Advisory Opinion CMS – AO – 2007 – 01 denying permission to the hospital and physician to revise a physician recruitment agreement. The proposed amendment would have deleted and “excess receipts provision, which…

The new Joint Commission Medical Staff standards (MS.1.20) are creating significant turmoil within the healthcare industry.  Below is a BNA Report regarding the American Health Lawyers Association teleconference on the issue, in which Mike Cassidy, one of Tucker’s Pennsylvania healthcare attorneys, was a presenter:

Revised Joint Commission Standards for Medical Staff Operations Roil Industry

OIG ADVISORY OPINION 07-10 APPROVES CALL PAY

On September 27, 2007, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services posted OIG Advisory Opinion No. 07-10 which approves a tax exempt hospital proposal for compensating physicians for on call coverage. While acknowledging that on call compensation potentially creates considerable risk that…

STARK III REGULATIONS TEXT

CMS issued the revised Stark III Regulations to be effective as of December 4, 2007. The text of the regulations is accessible at the link below, and the Med Law Blog will publish a number of short posts over the next two months highlighting certain changes prior to that effective date.

The…

Med Law Blog Editor

About Our Practice Group

Tucker Arensberg’s Healthcare Practice Group includes some of the most experienced health law attorneys in the region. We handle the legal problems so our clients can handle the important work of caring for patients. We work with physicians, physical therapists, dentists, optometrists, and all other professional care givers to help them avoid the many legal traps of running a practice. Tucker Arensberg lawyers have experience in all major health law issues.