Recent reports indicate that House and Senate Committee leaders have apparently mutually agreed on a bipartisan arrangement for correcting or preventing surprise medical bills, although legislation has not yet been passed. Attached is an outline of the “No Surprise Act”, which essentially deals with insured patients receiving unexpected bills for medical services. Note that this must be distinguished from uninsured patients receiving medical bills, especially bills for “full fee services” when insured members…

EHR Safe Harbor Permanent The existing electronic health records items and services Safe Harbor in 42 CFR Section 1001.952(y) was amended by deleting the sunset provision, thereby making the protection permanent. Cybersecurity Technology and Services A new Safe Harbor for cybersecurity and technology services is added in 42 CFR Section 1001.952(jj) to facilitate improved cybersecurity.  The announcement states the healthcare sector is one of the most targeted industry sectors and that data breaches may have…

On December 2, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will jointly publish the final regulations first proposed on October 17, 2019: 1.     AKS Safe Harbors: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-26072.pdf 2.     Stark Exceptions:  https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-26140.pdf The regulations will become effective January 19, 2021. The Federal Register publications occupy approximately 2,000 pages. MedLaw Blog will publish a series of posts. This…

The Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law (CTeL) is presenting its virtual 2020 Fall Summit on December 1st through December 4th.  Mike Cassidy will participate in the Keynote Panel addressing the telehealth issues presented in the OIG’s September 2020 National Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown.  …

This article written by Michael A. Cassidy and Jerry J. Russo appeared in the October 2020 Issue of the Allegheny County Medical Society Bulletin.…

This article written by Michael Cassidy appeared in the September issue of the Allegheny County Medical Society Bulletin. Use this link to read the article.…

The Taskforce on Telehealth Policy (TTP) conveyed by NCQA, the Alliance for Connected Care, and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) issued a report urging the retention of the new policies on telehealth issued by CMS during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).  Use this link to view the report.…