Articles and Blogs

NATIONAL 2 startups win big at Accenture’s ​Houston-based health tech competition 1 in 5 patients get surprise bill after elective surgery. How costly was it? 3 Ways to Enhance Healthcare Interoperability with Health IT 6 hospitals partnering on drone deliveries 13 hospitals, health systems launching telehealth services 6 hospitals that suspended surgeries due to... READ MORE

Most skilled nursing facilities are not correctly complying with life safety requirements or emergency preparedness requirements, according to three recent reports by the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. OIG recently issued three reports on its audits of life safety requirements or emergency preparedness requirements:... READ MORE

States and the federal government are currently expanding laws intended to protect health care workers against workplace violence or raise the penalties for causing harm to health care workers. Workplace Violence Workers in health care settings often face the risk of workplace violence as a result of their interaction with patients and clients. While... READ MORE

Mergers and acquisitions in the health care industry involve unique challenges that are not often present when undertaking similar transactions in other industries. Because of health care’s highly regulated nature, parties may falter if a health care transaction is not reviewed and negotiated carefully with respect to the distinct concerns that health care entails.... READ MORE

Surprise Billing Bonanza in the House On February 7, two House panels released measures aimed at fixing surprise medical bills. The House Ways and Means Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee plan to vote on their bills this week. Lawmakers are trying to move quickly as they hope to include surprise billing... READ MORE

NATIONAL How total joints’ outpatient migration could affect value-based pay Federal court says HHS can’t limit fees for 3rd-party access to patient records Private equity pushes into healthcare: 8 latest deals Patient groups push back against Medicaid block grants States ranked by ER visit rate How Social Media Helped an Accountable Care Organization Save... READ MORE

Surprise Billing Continues to Be Hot as More Committees Weigh In The House Ways & Means Committee plans to release its surprise billing legislation this week in preparation for a markup on February 12. The Ways and Means proposal will rely on arbitration for resolving out of network claims and will have to be... READ MORE

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR”), as amended, 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 (“FTC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division and to wait a period of time before consummating the transaction.... READ MORE

NATIONAL Pete Stark, congressman who reshaped health care, dies at 88 Hospital group fights drug shortages by making needed meds Epic CEO Judy Faulkner asks hospitals to oppose HHS’ interoperability rule 4 health systems that dropped the dual-CEO model Health Catalyst becomes 1st healthcare member of Partnership on AI Joint replacement bundled payments losing... READ MORE

On January 21, 2020, the Supreme Court denied a motion to expedite consideration of a petition for certiorari in a case directly challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”).[1] Given the Supreme Court’s decision, it is likely that the fate of Obamacare will not be decided until sometime after the 2020 presidential... READ MORE