Articles and Blogs

Two bills in Kentucky are currently under discussion that will, if enacted, impact litigation of contracts with arbitration clauses and cases involving malpractice of long-term care providers.  These bills significantly alter the current process for such actions. One bill, introduced as House Bill (HB) 88, changes the established treatment of arbitration clauses in contracts. ... READ MORE

February 1, 2012 Right to Work Becomes Law in Indiana On February 1, 2012, Indiana became the 23rd state to enact “Right to Work” with Governor Mitch Daniels’ signature on House Bill 1001 after it passed the Senate by a vote of 28 to 22. This Right to Work law has been a long... READ MORE

During the 4th quarter of 2011, Grubb & Ellis (G&E) released their investor outlook for health care properties. The report states that demand is strong and that health care properties will continue to be a reliable investment over the next decade. G&E points to a number of factors to justify its outlook. The driving... READ MORE

The New York Times (NYT) had an interesting article in their The New Old Age segment that described the issues men have in finding appropriate long-term care facilities.  The article highlighted an intuitive, yet often overlooked issue concerning the number of rooms a facility has versus the number of beds.  Many facilities have two... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has responded to criticism detailing how Medicare contractors present hospice service charges in the Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) to beneficiaries.  In recent years, CMS has added new reporting requirements for visit data on hospice claims.  This resulted in an expansion of the information of the claim record to better understand... READ MORE

With the advent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), we are entering a new era of clinical integration and coordinated care.  The government is interested in actively facilitating better care for patients, better health for populations and lower health care costs.  To achieve this three part objective, CMS is championing the... READ MORE

Background The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), requires all persons contemplating certain mergers or acquisitions that meet or exceed the jurisdictional thresholds (shown below) to file notification with the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division and to wait a period of time before consummating the transaction.... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule that enacts a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that seeks to make Medicaid reimbursement for medications more transparent and more closely aligned with what pharmacies pay for the drugs.  In a press release, CMS states the... READ MORE

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) that only the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that require insurers to accept everyone regardless of health status and to apply “community rates” be overturned if the Justices rule that the law’s mandate... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released updated guidance on Section 6501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that requires state Medicaid agencies to terminate the participation of any individual or entity if such individual or entity is terminated under Medicare or any other state Medicaid plan.   READ MORE