Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced significant policy changes for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D programs. On April 1, 2019, CMS released the calendar year 2020 Rate Announcement and Call Letter, and on April 5, 2019, CMS release the unpublished version of a final rule revising the MA and Part D program regulations for 2020 and 2021 (scheduled to be published April 16, 2019). These documents include many…

In Gresham v. Azar, United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge James E. Boasberg “[found] its guiding principle in Yogi Berra’s aphorism, ‘It’s déjà vu all over again.’” No. CV 18-1900 (JEB), 2019 WL 1375241, at *7 (D.D.C. Mar. 27, 2019). In striking down the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) approval of Arkansas’s Medicaid work requirements as “arbitrary and capricious,” Judge Boasberg noted that the agency’s failures were “nearly…

On March 22, 2019 CMS issued new guidance to State Medicaid Directors on implementation of the 2014 Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) rule. The 2014 HCBS rule required states to scrutinize facilities, including an assisted living facilities or group homes, receiving HCBS funding to make sure they met certain standards. The 2014 rule aimed to define the characteristic of “community based” to move these settings and facilities away from the qualities of an “institution.”…

In order to move health care organizations towards consistency in mitigating important cybersecurity threats to the health care sector, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) published multiple guidance documents on best practices for health care organizations to reduce cybersecurity risks (“HHS Cyber Guidance”). The HHS Cyber Guidance is the result of HHS’ public-private partnership with more than 150 cybersecurity and health care experts. While compliance is voluntary, this guidance serves as direction to…

WANT TO KNOW HOW THE DOJ’S BRAND MEMO MAY GIVE HEALTH CARE CONTRACTORS A NEW AVENUE OF DEFENSE IN FCA LITIGATION? READ “DOJ: PUTTING LIMITS ON GUIDANCE” TO FIND OUT Crowell & Moring has issued its seventh-annual “Litigation Forecast 2019: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year.”  The health care section of the Forecast, “DOJ: Putting Limits On Guidance,” outlines how The DOJ’s Brand Memo may…

On Nov. 29, 2018, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced several amendments to policies on individual accountability set forth in the 2015 Yates Memo. As a result, companies facing FCA actions—especially defendants in health care cases—should consider following three strategy tips:  (1) Establish clear benchmarks for cooperation.  (2) Advocate for individual releases.  And (3) Emphasize that litigation costs outweigh the potential recovery in appropriate cases. To learn more please read this Bloomberg BNA article…

On January 1, 2019, portions of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Final Rule expanding the availability of Association Health Plans (AHPs) went into effect. AHPs allow small businesses to band together and negotiate better deals when buying insurance for their members. The partial government shutdown hasn’t slowed the raging debate over how states are to implement the DOL’s final rule. On December 28, 2018, a federal judge ordered litigation concerning the rule to continue…