Articles and Blogs

As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was mandated to submit a report to Congress evaluating the Nationwide Program for National and State Background Checks on Direct Patient Access Employees of Long Term Care Facilities and Providers (commonly referred to as the “Background... READ MORE

This Health Law News article is Part VIII in the series discussing the new governance study, “Governance in Large Nonprofit Health Systems: Current Profile and Emerging Patterns.” The full Report is available herePart I – Executive Summary was published in Hall Render’s Health Law News on August 8, 2012, Part II – Public and... READ MORE

Hall Render Discusses Health Law Reform on Capitol Hill As part of ongoing initiatives to persuade Congress to reform the Stark Law and remove fraud and abuse law barriers that hinder the expansion of telemedicine, Hall Render attorneys recently conducted another round of meetings with congressional staff on Capitol Hill, including House Energy and... READ MORE

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has published their annual Work Plan for 2013. The Work Plan continues to identify compliance risk areas that subject Medicare and Medicaid providers to audit and enforcement initiatives. The Work Plan specifically targets skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), hospices, and home health agencies (HHAs). For all types of... READ MORE

Executive Summary On October 2, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released its Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2013 (“Plan”).  The Plan provides insight into the OIG’s potential audit and enforcement activities for the next fiscal year.  While the Plan addresses several different provider types, this article... READ MORE

Yesterday (10/4/2012), in a letter from House Republican leaders to HHS, House Republican leaders expressed serious concern regarding the Stage 2 Meaningful Use program and requested HHS to take the following action: Immediately suspend the distribution of incentive payments until universal interoperable standards are promulgated by HHS; Increase what is expected of Meangingful Users... READ MORE

The Indiana Hospital Association awarded Hall Render shareholder Douglas M. Kinserthe John C. Render Award for Health Policy at this year’s IHA Annual Banquet.  The recognition honors Kinser’s years of service in the Indiana legislature and his lifetime of work improving Indiana health care and its public policies.  Kinser is the second recipient of... READ MORE

On September 27, 2012 CMS issued revised feeding tube interpretive guidelines to the State Operations Manual (“SOM”). While the actual federal regulation did not change, the SOM changes the interpretive guidelines, which can be found in Appendix PP of the SOM. READ MORE

Executive Summary On October 2, 2012, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published its Work Plan for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2013 (“Plan”).  The Plan, which is published annually and describes the OIG’s new and ongoing audit and enforcement priorities for the upcoming year, is helpful in identifying corporate compliance risk areas and providing focus... READ MORE

On September 27, 2012, CMS issued an advance copy of the State Operations Manual (“SOM”) revisions to Appendix P of the SOM, which addresses Long-Term Care Facility survey protocol. The SOM guidance also makes changes to various survey forms resulting from the new quality measures reports. READ MORE