Health Law Advisor

  The age and complexity of hospital real estate often result in zoning and land use issues that must be addressed in hospital M&A transactions.  In larger transactions, purchasers and their lenders frequently obtain zoning reports prepared by one of the national companies, which summarize existing code requirements and potential non-compliance by the hospital.  For smaller transactions, it is common for purchasers and their lenders to rely on a letter from the local Planning & Zoning office, which is often limited to confirmation of the zoning classification and whether there are ...

Epstein Becker Green is pleased to announce a webinar series for employers on the forthcoming rules and regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"). We expect the Administration to release a significant number of regulations in the near future which will directly impact employers.

EBG Health Care & Life Sciences and Labor & Employment practitioners, along with outside speakers, will provide in-depth analysis on proposed rules and regulations and how they will impact decisions that must be made by employers. The first webinar will take place on November 30.

Stay tuned ...

The recent discovery of a security flaw that allows Skype accounts to essentially be hijacked has again raised the issue of the security of web-based platforms—and whether providers can meet their HIPAA obligations when using these communication tools.  The issue of Skype and similar platforms and HIPAA compliance is one that I am often asked about.  In a previous post, I addressed the issue and concluded that providers who wish to use Skype or similar platforms proceed with great caution.  I noted that the use of web-based platforms, especially those that are proprietary, may make it ...

By Amy J. Traub, Gretchen Harders, Anna Kolontyrsky, and Margaret C. Thering

With the reelection of President Obama, it is clear that employers should be preparing to comply with all of the applicable provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the “Affordable Care Act”).  As employers well know, the Affordable Care Act contains comprehensive healthcare reform provisions, including, among other things, the mandate that larger employers face penalties starting in 2014 if they do not ...

Kara M. Maciel, contributor to this blog and Member of the Firm at Epstein Becker Green, has released the "HR Guide for Responding to Natural Disasters."  Following is an excerpt:

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes have posed unique human resource challenges for employers. While many employers are working around the clock on recovery efforts, other employers find themselves unable to function for extended periods of time because of damage or loss of utilities.

The economic effects of a natural disaster will have long-term consequences on businesses ...

As telehealth continues to grow, there are a number of legal, regulatory, and operational issues that threaten to stall its progress.  We have tackled many of these issues in previous blog posts.  But no obstacle looms larger than the issue of payment.  How can providers get consistently and appropriately reimbursed by payers for use of telehealth?  Absent a clear answer, telehealth will likely find it difficult to fulfill its great promise—at least in the United States.  Other countries are pulling ahead.  Here is a look at the current reimbursement landscape facing providers and what ...

By Ross K. Friedberg and Ophir Stemmer

This year we’ve seen a continuation of the trend toward heightened regulation and enforcement of the privacy and security requirements under the Health Information Portability andAccountability Act (“HIPAA”) and under other state and federal health privacy laws. Although there have not been any significant changes to federal health privacy laws this year, federal enforcement activity continues to be strong.

This post provides a summary of the developments in privacy and security law throughout the past year; discusses the ...

For a physician who has spent his or her whole professional life developing and growing a medical practice, the process of selling that practice can be a traumatic experience.  Typically, the physician may focus on the short term, attempting to maximize the price at which the practice will be purchased and the applicable payment terms.  However, the long term happiness of the selling physician may depend less on the size of the purchase price at which the practice is sold, and more on how well the physician negotiates the terms and conditions of employment following the acquisition ...

In addition to the work that states are doing (or purposefully not doing) to implement State Health Insurance Exchanges for operation in 2014, states have also been given the task of choosing a benchmark plan for purposes of defining the essential health benefits (“EHB”), a minimum package of benefits that must be offered by all insurance policies sold in the small group and individual markets beginning in 2014. 

Section 1302(b) of the Affordable Care Act directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary”) to define the EHB. The scope of the EHB must equal the ...

By Dale C. Van Demark

As we weather what most industry watchers (including me) have observed is a renewed wave of hospital and provider consolidation, it is likely we will continue to see failed merger attempts involving religious and non-religious hospitals. The recent failures of the hospital mergers in Waterbury, Connecticut and in the Philadelphia suburbs are just two recent examples.

The Conundrum

Many religious hospitals trace their religious affiliation to the origins of the institution, which can date back many decades.  For some religious hospitals, their very ...