Perspectives on Health Care

Health Care partner Linda Baumann was recently quoted in an article in Bloomberg BNA’s Medicare Report on the amount of money that the Medicare program recoups through its fraud and abuse enforcement efforts.

On Monday, July 11, 2016, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a fact sheet with guidance for covered entities and business associates on HIPAA and ransomware.

On July 6th, CMS released a proposed rule (expected to appear in the Federal Register on July 15th) that, if it takes effect, could be devastating to hospital off-campus outpatient department reimbursement – an effect not intended by Congress, and certainly unwelcome to the healthcare industry.

In a surprising and promising development, the Senate Finance Committee released a Majority Staff Report on June 30, 2016 that gives the health care industry some hope that Congress may finally address some of the serious concerns with the implementation and enforcement of the Stark law.

Health Care partner Linda Baumann was quoted extensively in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Care Fraud Report in an article on the potential repeal and overhaul of the Stark Law.

Telemedicine has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade, moving beyond teleradiology to include a broad range of specialties such as neurology, infectious diseases, and psychiatry.

The 2016 edition of Legal 500 US has rated 46 Arent Fox LLP attorneys as national leaders in their field. In addition, 14 of the firm’s practice areas were ranked among the best in the country.

In a highly anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Universal Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar that threw out existing law related to the implied certification theory of liability under the False Claims Act.

Rising prescription drug costs have been big news this year, and states are beginning to respond.

On May 25, 2016, the White House released its much anticipated Data Security Policy Principles and Framework (Security Framework) for President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI).

On April 27, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a proposed rule that, among other things, would eliminate the 0.2 percent inpatient payment reduction resulting from the “2-Midnight Rule.”

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently began its second round of audits of covered entities and business associates for compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule (the “Phase 2” audits).

The California Office of the Attorney General (OAG) recently released a report detailing a comprehensive analysis of the data breaches reported to the OAG between 2012 and 2015.

On May 6, 2016, CMS published in the Federal Register a request for comments on proposed revisions to the information to be collected pursuant to the CMS Voluntary Self-Referral (Stark) Disclosure Protocol (SRDP).

In March 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) enhanced its Medicare enrollment screening for new and existing enrollees to the Medicare program. Providers not meeting CMS’s enhanced enrollment screening risk denial, revocation, or deactivation of Medicare billing privileges.

Arent Fox Health Care partner Linda A. Baumann was quoted extensively in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Care Fraud Report in an article on recent concerns surrounding the Stark Law that prohibits physician self-referrals.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has finally issued final regulations transitioning to the use of the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) to establish Medicaid ingredient cost reimbursement instead of utilizing manufacturer-reported prices.

In a surprising move that could dramatically impact government enforcement actions against life science companies, the health care industry, and government contractors, a federal board has increased federal False Claims Act penalties by more than 100 percent. 

The Department of Justice recently announced it has reached a more than $780 million settlement with Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Wyeth to resolve reported false pricing allegations.

Partners Jacques Smith and David Greenberg spoke with AHLA Weekly after the US Supreme Court heard oral argument on April 19 in a major False Claims Act case that has far-reaching implications for the health care industry and other highly-regulated sectors reliant on government funding.

VA recently announced a significant policy change that will now require drug manufacturers to make drugs that are “covered drugs” under the Veterans Health Care Act (VHCA) available to the VA under the manufacturer’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract.

Covered entities and business associates subject to HIPAA Security Rule are closer to getting a benchmark for encryption standards with the release of the Standards and Guidelines Development Process in late March by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The Program Notice provides some guidance on how generic drug manufacturers are to calculate the new Additional Discount on generic drugs that will become part of the rebate due state Medicaid programs under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.

On April 14, 2016, the European Union formally adopted a new scheme – known as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – to protect the personal data of European residents.

On April 5, 2016, Chairwoman Edith Ramirez of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the release of a new web-based tool to assist developers of mobile health apps in understanding what federal laws they must comply with.