Category: Uncategorized

HHS releases strategy for reducing EHR administrative burden

HHS releases strategy for reducing EHR administrative burden

February 21, 2020 09:00 AM MARIA CASTELLUCCI      HHS on Friday acknowledged that electronic health records pose a significant burden on clinicians and suggested tactics the federal government can pursue to ease the pain. The strategy, published by the CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, was mandated by […]

Practice Fusion to pay $145 million over opioid kickback allegations

Practice Fusion to pay $145 million over opioid kickback allegations

January 27, 2020 06:28 PM JESSICA KIM COHEN  Practice Fusion, a vendor of electronic health records software, will pay $145 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations, including a probe into a scheme to increase opioid prescriptions, the Justice Department said Monday. The DOJ said the case marks the first criminal action taken against an […]

Dignity Health loses out-of-network billing lawsuit

Dignity Health loses out-of-network billing lawsuit

January 10, 2020 03:37 PM UPDATED AN HOUR AGO HARRIS MEYER   A California appellate court has rejected Dignity Health’s claim that L.A. Care Health Plan, a large Medicaid plan, owes it tens of millions of dollars in out-of-network bills for inpatient care following stabilization of medical emergencies. The Second District Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld a lower […]

Feds amassed $2.6 billion from 2019 healthcare fraud cases

Feds amassed $2.6 billion from 2019 healthcare fraud cases

January 09, 2020 SHELBY LIVINGSTON   The U.S. Justice Department recovered more than $2.6 billion in 2019 from lawsuits involving healthcare fraud and false claims, federal data released Thursday show. The department’s recoveries from healthcare fraud cases have inched higher in recent years from roughly $2.5 billion in 2018 and $2.1 billion in 2017. The […]

Appeals court strikes down individual mandate, stops short of scrapping entire ACA

Appeals court strikes down individual mandate, stops short of scrapping entire ACA

December 18, 2019 SHELBY LIVINGSTON  A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but it stopped short of striking down the entire healthcare law. Two judges on the three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided that the individual mandate is not constitutional […]

New CMS Final Rule to Allow Physician Assistants to Prescribe Medications to Hospice Patients

New CMS Final Rule to Allow Physician Assistants to Prescribe Medications to Hospice Patients

American Bar Association November 22, 2019  On November 15, CMS issued a Final Rule that will permit hospices to accept drug orders from a physician, a nurse practitioner (“NP”), or a physician assistant (“PA”). In 2018, CMS had issued a Final Rule amending the regulatory definition of “attending physician” for purposes of hospice care to include PAs. However, the […]

Sutter to pay $46 million over improper payment allegations

Sutter to pay $46 million over improper payment allegations

Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)   November 18, 2019 03:34 PM HARRIS MEYER   Sutter Health and a group of physicians agreed to pay the federal government $46.1 million to settle allegations that it violated the Stark law by billing Medicare for services by physicians with whom it had improper financial relationships, the Justice […]

Nutile Law recognized in “Best Law Firms” rankings by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers®

Nutile Law recognized in “Best Law Firms” rankings by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers®

U.S. News and Best Lawyers Release 2020 “Best Law Firms” Awards WASHINGTON – Nov. 1, 2019 – U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers®, for the 10th consecutive year, collaboratively announce the release of the “Best Law Firms” rankings. Firms included in the 2020 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” […]

OCR Imposes a $2.15 Million Civil Money Penalty against Jackson Health System for HIPAA Violations

OCR Imposes a $2.15 Million Civil Money Penalty against Jackson Health System for HIPAA Violations

October 23, 2019 The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has imposed a civil money penalty of $2,154,000 against Jackson Health System (JHS) for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security and Breach Notification Rules between 2013 and 2016. JHS is […]