Health Law Advisor

Our colleagues at Epstein Becker Green have issued a client alert: "Federally Facilitated Exchanges Are Almost Ready," by Linda V. Tiano.

Following is an excerpt:

On March 1, 2013, the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight ("CCIIO") and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") released lengthy and detailed draft guidance regarding the federally facilitated exchanges ("FFEs") that will operate in the 26 states that have chosen not to establish their own exchange or partner with CMS. Although the guidance was issued in draft form, CCIIO and CMS allowed ...

Allen Roberts, a Member of Firm in the Labor and Employment practice and co-chair of the firm's Whistleblowing and Compliance Subpractice Group, in the New York office, wrote an article titled "Impact: Employers Brace for Change – Top 5 Issues Facing Businesses, as appeared in Insurance Advocate."

Following is an excerpt:

By popular account, the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") would preserve the base of insureds and extend health insurance coverage to as many as another 32 million Americans. That estimate could be wrong if ACA disrupts patterns and experience of spouse and dependent ...

Labor Relations in 2013
What Health Care Industry Employers Should Know Now!   (A Webcast Series)

Part III: When Union Organizing Trumps Patient Care -  Aggressive Contract Management Tactics

Thursday, March 28, 2013
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT/ 9:00 am - 10:00 am PDT

Registration Is Complimentary! Webcast Space Is Limited! 

To register, please click here.

Please join Epstein Becker Green’s Labor & Employment practitioners for a discussion  focusing on new and more aggressive tactics and strategies being employed by health care industry unions.

In Part I and Part II of the series, we ...

Telehealth is expanding rapidly outside of the U.S. in both developed and developing countries.  Not surprisingly, the expanded use of telehealth presents many of the same regulatory and reimbursement challenges abroad that it does here in the U.S.  One region in particular that has taken steps to expand telehealth across borders is Europe, where in an effort to confront the legal issues raised by telehealth, the E.U. has removed and revisited existing regulations.  The E.U. has also issued guidance through the European Commission (an institution that is responsible for ensuring ...

Our colleagues at Epstein Becker Green have issued a client alert: "HIPAA Omnibus Rule's Impact on Notices of Privacy Practices," by Patricia M. Wagner, Brandon C. Ge, and Alaap B. Shah.

Following is an excerpt:

This health reform alert summarizes the key changes to the Notice of Privacy Practices ("NPP") requirements in the revised Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") regulations (the "Omnibus Rule") as well as what covered entities need to do to be compliant. Because many covered entities may have modified their NPPs based on the Notice of Proposed ...

On February 20, 2013, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the “Departments”) jointly issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) About Affordable Care Act Implementation (Part XII).  In the latest round of guidance, the Departments addressed the limitations on cost-sharing and the coverage of preventive services under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the “Affordable Care Act”).  This guidance applies only to non-grandfathered group ...

Several colleagues and I recently wrote Health Reform: Key Compliance Actions for the New HIPAA Privacy Regulations, an alert published by the Implementing Health and Insurance Reform team of Epstein Becker Green.

In it, we summarized areas in which employers should consider taking action prior to September 2013 to facilitate compliance with the new requirements.  Here are our top five action items for covered entities and business associates to focus on in their Omnibus Rule compliance efforts:

1. Review Business Associate Relationships, and Update Business Associate ...

by: James S. Frank, Steven M. Swirsky, and D. Martin Stanberry

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday February 27^th, in NLRB v. Special Touch Home Care Servs. Inc., 11-3147 (2d.Cir., Feb. 27, 2013) (PDF) that the NLRB erred when finding that 48 home health aides were protected by the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) when they participated in a strike after affirmatively telling their employer that they would be present for their shifts at their respective patients’ homes during the week of the strike.

While the NLRB had held that the workers actions were ...

Typically, when we blog about physician employment arrangements, we focus on major areas of negotiation, such as compensation, professional liability insurance and termination.  However, when the employment arrangement involves the physician, as employee, and a hospital, as employer, such as when the hospital acquires the physician's medical practice, some unique additional issues arise.  (Indeed, in a November, 2012 press release, the AMA noted that a survey of final-year residents found nearly 1/3 listed hospital employment as their first choice of practice setting.)  As ...

Our colleagues at Epstein Becker Green have issued a client alert: "U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Addresses Availability of State-Action Antitrust Immunity," by Patricia M. Wagner, Ross K. Friedberg, and Daniel C. Fundakowski.

Following is an excerpt:

On February 19, 2013, in FTC v. Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc., a case that highlights vigorous enforcement activities by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in the health care arena, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous opinion (“Opinion”) that overturned a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the ...