Click on the link to an article published in the New York Times (12/4, Abelson) reporting the American Hospital Association and other hospital groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration “over a new federal rule that would require them to disclose the discounted prices they give insurers for all sorts of procedures.” The hospital…

Attached are links to the CMS Press Release and the Trump Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First.

The Trump Executive Order was first issued on June 21, 2019.

The CMS Press Release indicates action on two rules.

First, the “proposed” transparency and coverage rule would…

As another part of the Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care, OIG proposed revisions to the existing EHR Anti-Kickback Safe Harbor and added a cybersecurity component.

The initial EHR Safe Harbor was developed in response to President George W. Bush’s 2004 initiative to extend EHR nationwide within 10 years, i.e. 2014.  The proponents of those EHR…

On November 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS”) announced a $1,600,000 civil money penalty for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security and Breach Notification Rules.

According to HHS, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TX HHSC) “operates state…

On October 22, 2019, CMS and OIG (Office of Inspector General) released new proposed rules regarding Stark Law Exceptions and Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors in response to what has universally been christened as the “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care”, first announced by HHS in June of 2018.

As background, please remember that, although the Anti-Kickback Safe…

On November 5, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS”) announced a $3,000,000 settlement with the University of Rochester Medical Center (“URMC”) for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security and Breach Notification Rules in 2013 and 2017.

According to HHS, URMC…

The federal government/Trump administration announced today a delay regarding a proposed rule requiring hospitals to disclose actual negotiated price rates.  See WSJ News.

In January, 2019, as reported in the MedLaw Blog on January 10, 2019, CMS added a rule requiring hospitals to publish their standard charges beginning January 2019.

As noted in…

On October 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS”) announced a $2,154,000 civil money penalty for numerous violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security and Breach Notification Rules between 2013 and 2016.

According to HHS, Jackson Health System (“JHS”) is a…

HHS has long admitted that the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Stark law have not evolved to keep pace with the transition to value based care.  In June of 2018, HHS issued an RFI seeking additional information and HHS also issued a release on December 12, 2018 seeking input on improving care coordination and reducing…

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