Articles and Blogs

31 Hall Render attorneys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2022. Hall Render is proud to congratulate the following attorneys. S. Allan Adelman, Shareholder, Best Lawyers Since 2008 Brian C. Betner, Shareholder, Best Lawyers Since 2019 Jeffrey L. Carmichael, Shareholder, Best Lawyers 2022 Lawrence K. Coon,... READ MORE

NATIONAL 10 numbers that show US hospital staffing strains 30% of US hospitals mandate vaccination for employment American Society of Anesthesiologists condemns AANA name change Amazon, Olive team up to bring cloud automation to 950 hospitals As COVID-19 vaccine mandates grow, so are requests for religious exemptions – USA Today Biden administration invests $19M... READ MORE

In a recent opinion, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals adopted an interpretation of the False Claims Act’s “knowledge” requirement based on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of a similar provision under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Court’s application of this interpretation is good news for hospitals and health care systems that must regularly... READ MORE

The False Claims Act has long been a fierce, but fair weapon in the government’s fight against fraud. Recently, however, profit minded trial attorneys and private entities have monetized the FCA by taking advantage of the fraud statute’s ambiguous safeguards. By creating qui tam portfolios and securing stakes in whistleblower awards, these financially driven... READ MORE

In an interesting federal district court case currently awaiting jury trial in Tennessee, the plaintiff claims that the termination of his employment at a Tennessee hospital was in retaliation for exercising his rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). The hospital that formerly employed him asked the court to grant summary judgment, arguing... READ MORE

Hall Render recently hosted a webinar on July 12, Effectively Navigating the Changing Landscape: COVID-19 Vaccination Strategies for Health Care Employers. The following includes a selection of audience questions that our attorneys received during and after the webinar. We made a few additional modifications to avoid duplicate questions and responses and also decided to... READ MORE

On July 23, 2021, CMS published its proposal for changes to its Medicare Part B payment policies for calendar year 2022, including proposed changes for teaching physician billing. In addition, in the same proposed rule, CMS published a proposal to modify the reporting relating to teaching hospitals under the Open Payments system. This article... READ MORE

On April 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) posted Advisory Opinion No. 21-02 (“Advisory Opinion”), a favorable opinion involving an ambulatory surgery center (“ASC”) joint venture and related safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”). This opinion is significant for many reasons, including: It is... READ MORE

President Biden recently issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (the “Executive Order”). Directed at addressing competition in numerous industries and markets, including the health care and labor markets, the Executive Order includes 72 initiatives directed at more than a dozen federal agencies that will focus on removing barriers to... READ MORE

On July 1, 2021, the Departments of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Labor and Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management (collectively, the “Departments”) published a much anticipated interim final rule (“IFR”) implementing certain provisions of the No Surprises Act (the “Act”). While the IFR addresses some key aspects of the Act, it does... READ MORE