Health Law Advisor

Organizations considering a significant transaction have a lot to think about.  One of the most important is making certain that relationships with key constituents and stakeholders are appropriately maintained and managed.  Too frequently, community hospitals and community health systems underestimate the scope and importance of those relationships.

Most of us can rattle-off a short list of key constituents and stakeholders for community hospitals and community health systems.

Here's my standard list, together with a short description of why they are important:

• Board ...

Many legal obstacles have long stood in the way of telehealth. There are licensure laws, prescribing laws, practice of medicine requirements, credentialing rules, insurance coverage issues, and concerns about privacy, among others.  These hurdles have until recently relegated telehealth to the most geographically remote corners of health care where the only means of obtaining medical care is by phone or computer connection to a provider hundreds of miles away.  But now, with physician shortages and the ubiquity of the smart phone, telehealth is beginning to show up all over the ...

There is a proposal moving through Congress that has some interesting implications for telemedicine.  Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have proposed an amendment to the Online Pharmacy Safety Act that would impose additional restrictions on when and under what circumstances practitioners can prescribe medication under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.  Although the Online Pharmacy Act is primarily intended to put an end to illegitimate pharmacies and the fraudulent sale of drugs online, as the American Telemedicine Association, HealthLeaders

by Daniel E. Gospin and Amy F. Lerman

As part of continued efforts to expand the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”) program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in November 2011 the implementation of a demonstration project that will allow RACs to conduct prepayment reviews on certain types of Medicare claims that historically have resulted in high rates of improper payments.

The prepayment review demonstration project will focus these efforts in 11 states—seven of which were selected because they have significant populations of fraud- and ...

In 2012, both of Epstein Becker Green's founding practices, Health Care & Life Sciences and Labor & Employment, as well as several individual attorneys, were recognized as leaders in their fields of practice.

Specifically, Jay P. Krupin and Steven Swirsky were recognized in the Labor and Employment Management Relations Category.

Click here to read more about Epstein Becker Green’s recognition by Legal 500 United States

It should be an easy matter for an employer to determine which federal laws apply to it.  Not so, however, given the way in which the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) administers and enforces the federal affirmative action laws (Executive Order 11246, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act).

In the last sixteen months, OFCCP has (a) issued an expansive and controversial new “Directive 293,” asserting broad and deep jurisdiction over health care providers who participate in TRICARE, FEHBP ...

In May 2012, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (“EBRI”) issued a report showing that the percentage of workers covered by employer-sponsored health care coverage (measured through April 2011) continued to fall despite improvement in the economy.  Employer-sponsored health care coverage is the most common source of health care coverage for workers who exceed the poverty line and who are not yet eligible for Medicare.  It covers approximately 69% of workers, 46% of non-working adults and 55% of children.

The EBRI report notes that there is a generally recognized link ...