CMS has aggregated the various web pages pertaining to Medicare fee-for-service providers. The link to that website is included below and is also included separately in the links section on the title page of the Blog.
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/Downloads/FFS_Provider_Web_Pages.pdf
AHLA and a Florida newspaper have reported an ongoing case in which 4 trauma surgeons have obtained a TRO blocking their summary suspensions, but the case is not over yet and there is no formal opinion. The AHLA report and the newspaper link are below.
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As they do every year, the Internal Revenue Service increased the dollar limits (adjusted for cost-of-living increases) that apply to qualified retirement plans. There are three separate charts below that list the limits that have changed for 2009. The three charts are separated to identify the revised limits for: (1) defined contribution plans, (2) defined benefit plans, …
On January 21, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Dr. Poliner’s petition to review the Fifth Circuit’s holding , leaving standing the decision that Texas Health System and Dr. James Knoechel qualified for HCQIA immunity.
(Chuck Mowll, cmowll@jointcommission.org) http://www.jointcommission.org/Library/jconline/jconline_jan_2009.htm
Standard MS.1.20 Task Force to meet in March
The MS.1.20 Task Force will meet in March to continue its work of determining the best approach to revise Standard MS.1.20 relating to Medical Staff bylaws. Any recommended changes would be the subject of a field review and consideration by the…
1 of 3 DOCUMENTS
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ex rel. TED D. KOSENSKE, M.D. v. CARLISLE HMA, INC.; HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC., Ted D. Kosenske, M.D., Appellant
NO. 07-4616
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 971
October 31, 2008, Argued
January 21,
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Third Circuit Decides Stark Exception Case in Qui Tam Context
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has rendered a provocative decision in the qui tam case, United States of America ex rel. Ted D. Kosenske, M.D. v. Carlisle HMA, Inc., which opinion was filed on January 21, 2009 and which is available at …
It was the night before Christmas and all through the west, not a physician was conspiring, not even the next. . . On December 24, 2008, the FTC announced settlement of price fixing cases against AllCare IPA, a 500 physician multi-specialty IPA organized as Independent Practice Associates Medical Group, Inc. in Modesto, California…
Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare, which administers the Medical Assistance or Medicaid Program for the Commonwealth, experienced a huge set back in its efforts to curtail the use of annuities in Medical Assistance Long Term Care (MA-LTC) Planning with the recent Weatherbee v. Richman opinion dated January 22, 2009.
The Department contested the conversation of Mr. Weatherbee’s “excess resources”, those above the allowable limit, to an immediate, non-assignable annuity which provided an income stream to his non-institutionalized or community souse. The Department contended that this annuity could be sold on the secondary market and thus converted back into an available resource to Mr. Weatherbee, which resource would need to be spent down before MA-LTC benefits could be granted. The Department relied upon anti-assignment provisions in Pennsylvania law found at 62 P.S. Section 441.6.
The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania rejected the Department’s argument in ruling on its Motion to Dismiss Mr. Weatherbee’s action for declaratory and injunctive relief. The Court held that the anti-assignment provision in Section 441.6 is preempted by Federal MA-LTC law. Continue Reading Favorable Clarification on Annuity Use in Medical Assistance and Long Term Planning
Any Upside to Downtrodden Markets? Estate Planning has Never Looked Better
As recently noted in the Wall Street Journal (see the following link): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123249848140700515.html?mod=rss_Tax_Report), a combination of low interest rates and depressed asset values have caused the recent turn of events in the US economy to be one of the best times in history…
