In Babb v. Centre Community Hospital Geisinger Clinic, and Penn State Geisinger Health System, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania refused to grant the Defendant’s immunity pursuant to the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA). The standard HCQIA analysis was applied by the Court. Dr. Babb alleged the defendants were biased and motivated by something other than … Continue Reading
On Friday, Congressional lawmakers approved an extension to the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012,1 which contains a "doc fix" preventing a 27.4% cut in Medicare physician payments that was set to begin on March 1, 2012.… Continue Reading
Pres. Obama signed the Physician Payment and Therapy relief Act of 2010. This act extends the temporary 2.2 % medicare Physician Fee Schedule increase, which replaced the projected 23% SGR decrease for 2010, but only for one more month.… Continue Reading
In KD v. United States, a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, both granting and denying a motion for a protective order in parts, indicates that PSQIA of 2005 has changed its opinion regarding the protection of peer review documents under federal common law privilege. The opinion notes that … Continue Reading
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) contains several provisions aimed to reduce fraud and abuse in home health and Durable Medical Equipment (DME) programs, which CMS and OIG consider to be high risk programs. Effective July 1, 2010, physicians who order covered home health or DME services must be enrolled in Medicare (§ 6405). … Continue Reading
The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has issued Advisory Opinion No. 09-05, which states that the OIG will not impose sanctions regarding a proposed on call arrangement in which the hospital will compensate physicians for providing on call coverage for patients presenting to the hospital or emergency department. The … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor recently issued new amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Those amendments have added to the notice requirements under the act, creating both a paperwork chore for businesses and a potential legal trap if the required notices are not provided. This Alert summarizes the new notice requirements. General Notice The General Notice must be posted … Continue Reading
