Articles and Blogs

In part 1 of this series about negotiating procurement deals, we talked about the parties to the agreement and how that easily overlooked issue can cause problems such as unlicensed use of the software being acquired. Other basic issues can cause deals to go sideways. This post addresses the first issues that an organization’s... READ MORE

On December 18, 2019, in a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the plaintiffs in Texas v. United States[1] had standing to bring a case challenging a provision of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) known as the individual mandate (26 U.S.C. §5000A) and that the individual mandate requiring... READ MORE

NATIONAL Hospitals Exploring Short-Term Housing For Homeless Patients To Free Up Beds VA drops its star ratings system for hospitals TEVA Agrees to Pay $54 Million to Settle McEldrew Young False Claims Act Qui Tam Whistleblower Lawsuit 43% of older patients seek out physician ratings CMS releases 2021 Medicare Advantage risk adjustment payment changes... READ MORE

On December 30, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a resolution agreement with an ambulance company (“Company”) covered entity that provides both emergency and nonemergency transportation services. The Company employs only 64 workers. The Company will pay $65,000 and enter into a Corrective Action Plan (“CAP”)... READ MORE

NATIONAL Electronic Health Records Creating a ‘New Era’ of Health Care Fraud, Officials Say ‘Epidemic’: 75% Of Workplace Assaults Happen To Health Care Workers Despite privacy concerns, 88% of Americans would share data for cancer research Nonprofit hospitals get bump in Moody’s ratings for 2020 HHS proposed rule adds new performance measures for organ... READ MORE

We previously wrote about the “quickie” election rules here. On December 13, 2019, the NLRB released new election rules that significantly dialed back several previous amendments. Under the quickie election rules, or “Old Rules,” the median number of days from petition to election had decreased by a total of approximately 15 days.[1] Union Election... READ MORE