Articles and Blogs

Hall Render is pleased to announce that Chambers and Partners has recognized Joe Kahn in its 2019 Chambers USA rankings. Joe received a Band 1 ranking for Healthcare in North Carolina. Focusing his practice on transactions and affiliations, he was praised as a “strategic thinker” who “understands the industry and is very well respected.” Chambers... READ MORE

On April 23, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released the Federal Fiscal Year (“FFY”) 2020 Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) proposed rule (“IPPS Proposed Rule”). Among many other changes, CMS proposed several changes to address disparities between high and low wage index areas and fixing the so-called “rural floor.”... READ MORE

NATIONAL 75% of healthcare experts struggle with implementing blockchain What’s next for the post-Gottlieb FDA Hospitals can only watch as big players move in on primary care The 10 best and 10 worst states for children’s healthcare HHS extends comment period for interoperability proposed rules to June 3 Cerner and naviHealth launch EHR-agnostic tool... READ MORE

Hall Render is pleased to announce Benjamin Fee has rejoined the firm in its Denver office. Ben previously worked in the firm’s Milwaukee office from 2009 through 2013. Ben practices exclusively in the area of health law advising health systems, hospitals, pharmacies, long-term care providers and medical practices on a variety of regulatory, compliance... READ MORE

The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) recently unveiled the use of a new tool called the Fraud Risk Indicator. OIG’s stated purpose behind this new initiative is to provide more transparency to industry stakeholders (e.g., patients, family members, healthcare industry professionals) regarding OIG’s risk assessment of a... READ MORE

We continue to receive questions regarding the future of the 340B drug discount program (“340B Program”) now that its mid-term longevity is no longer in doubt. These include whether Congress will continue to focus on limiting the 340B Program’s scope as well as what effect, if any, broader efforts to reduce drug costs might... READ MORE

Summary In a February 2019 report, No. A-01-17-00506, HHS Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) determined that Medicare made Part B payments to ambulance suppliers for transportation services that were covered through the Medicare Part A payments to skilled nursing facilities (“SNF”) as part of consolidated billing requirements. With certain exceptions, the SNF Part... READ MORE

NATIONAL AMA teams up with biotech incubator to connect physicians with startups Amazon Alexa is luring health developers, but it will be a while before we use it to call a doctor Telemedicine may be leading to the overprescribing of antibiotics HHS to audit plans for compliance with HIPAA transactions It’s a Brave New... READ MORE

Summary On February 14, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (“CMMI”) launched a new five-year payment model for emergency ambulance services named the Emergency Triage, Treat and Transport Model (“ET3”). ET3 will enable participating ambulance providers and suppliers (“Ambulance Providers”) to partner with qualified... READ MORE

Hall Render is pleased to announce Lindsey Croasdale has joined the firm’s Milwaukee office. Lindsey focuses her practice on regulatory compliance and corporate transactions in health care as well as employment law matters. Specifically, she advises clients on Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, HIPAA, Medicare, Medicaid, patient care issues and human resources management.... READ MORE