Health Care

New HIPAA Settlement Is the First under OCR’s Right of Access Initiative

By Thora A. Johnson, Celia E. Van Lenten & Alexander S. Altman on September 18, 2019

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced last week that it entered into a Resolution Agreement with a Florida medical center (“Medical Center”) following allegations that the Medical Center failed to respond to a patient’s request for medical records in a timely fashion and in violation of the patient’s right to access such records under HIPAA. While the $85,000 settlement amount is relatively small in comparison to the…

Legionnaire's Disease News

Batavia Legionnaires outbreak investigation focuses on construction site

By News Services on September 18, 2019

Legionnaires lawyer Elliot Olsen has won millions for his clients. If you or a family member became ill in this Batavia Legionnaires outbreak, you might have cause to file a Legionnaires lawsuit. Please call Elliot at (612) 337-6126 for a free consultation. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has identified a construction site as a possible cause of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Batavia. The construction site is a short walk from the Covenant…

DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog

There hospitals go again: UVA Health backpedals on draconian debt collection

By Patrick A. Malone on September 18, 2019

Is a public pillorying the only way to stop big hospitals from pursuing patients for medical debt with the zeal of demons from the underworld? The University of Virginia Health System — an enterprise that racked up an $87 million operating profit on revenue of $1.7 billion in the fiscal year ending in June and that holds stocks, bonds and other investments worth about $1 billion — has become the latest institution to get a…

Health Law Pulse

U.S. District Court vacates CY 2019 OPPS final rule reducing Medicare payment rates for evaluation and management services furnished in hospital excepted off-campus provider-based departments

By Thomas Dowdell (US) on September 18, 2019

On September 17, United States District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled that CMS in its CY 2019 OPPS final rule reducing Medicare payment rates for evaluation and management (E/M) services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries in hospital excepted off-campus hospital provider-based departments exceeded its statutory authority and vacated the rule. American Hospital Association v. Azar, Civil Action No. 18-2841 (RMC). The rule would have reduced over a…

Health Law Diagnosis

Government Continues to Closely Scrutinize Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices

By Conor Duffy on September 18, 2019

On September 4, 2019 the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $15.4 million settlement with pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt ARD LLC (Mallinckrodt) to resolve alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) in two whistleblower suits filed under the False Claims Act (FCA). The settlement addresses allegations of AKS violations between 2009-2013 by sales representatives of a company later acquired by Mallinckrodt via the “wining and dining” of physicians to induce Medicare prescriptions of that company’s drug.…

DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog

With GOP still tearing at ACA, uninsured rate rises for first time in decade

By Patrick A. Malone on September 17, 2019

The Grand Old Party may have just won the dictionary definition of a Pyrrhic Victory. That’s because Republicans’ decade-long assault on the Affordable Care Act his finally showing predictable results, with the share of Americans lacking health insurance increasing for the first time in 10 years. The rate and number of people without health insurance increased from 7.9%, or 25.6 million, in 2017 to 8.5%, or 27.5 million, in 2018, officials reported. The nation’s children …

Hospice Law Blog

Hospice False Claims: AseraCare Lost A Battle But Has Helped Win The War

By Brian Daucher on September 17, 2019

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Last week, the 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment given to AseraCare in its hospice false claims case, setting up more litigation on the question whether AseraCare’s certifications were made in good faith. But, the appeals court also affirmed a critical trial court ruling on the standard to be applied to review of hospice claims for “falsity,” holding that a mere difference of opinion among physicians is insufficient to establish that a…

Death Care Compliance Law

Grantor Care Funds: Too Small to Pay for Flowers

By Bill Stalter on September 17, 2019

It would be my assumption that the majority of the country’s cemeteries do not maintain a trust for the maintenance and care of its graves. While this may differ from state to state, most states’ perpetual care statutes exempt small family cemeteries, not for profit cemeteries, municipal cemeteries, county cemeteries and church cemeteries from their care trust requirement. Consequently, there may be tens of thousands of cemeteries that will be dependent upon volunteers to mow…

Legionnaire's Disease News

Covenant Living Legionnaires outbreak spreads beyond facility

By Bobby Armstrong on September 17, 2019

Legionnaires lawyer Elliot Olsen has won millions for his clients. If you or a family member got sick in this Covenant Living Legionnaires outbreak, you might have cause to file a Legionnaires lawsuit. Please call Elliot at (612) 337-6126 for a free consultation. The Covenant Living Legionnaires outbreak in Batavia, Illinois, has spread beyond the senior living community, with two additional cases of Legionnaires’ disease confirmed in the surrounding area. Public health officials are warning…

La Revue

Restructuration et insolvabilité : adoption d’une nouvelle directive

By Laure Perrin on September 17, 2019

La Directive (UE) 2019/1023 du 20 juin 2019, officiellement dénommée directive relative aux cadres de restructuration préventive, à la remise de dettes et aux déchéances, et aux mesures à prendre pour augmenter l’efficacité des procédures en matière de restructuration, d’insolvabilité et de remise de dettes, et modifiant la directive (UE) 2017/1132 (directive sur la restructuration et l’insolvabilité), (« la Directive ») a pour objectif d’harmoniser (a minima) le droit des entreprises en difficultés dans l’Union européenne…