Health Law Advisor

Epstein Becker Green's Lynn Shapiro Snyder, Senior Member of the Firm, and Tanya Vanderbilt Cramer, Of Counsel, will present "Accountable Care Organizations and Other Provider Risk Sharing Arrangements — a Legal and Regulatory Overview," a webinar hosted by Bloomberg BNA.

While the federal government has encouraged the growth of accountable care organizations (ACOs) through the Affordable Care Act, the regulation of ACOs and other provider risk sharing arrangements remains a patchwork of federal and state requirements that span many different areas of law. This ...

By Arthur J. Fried, Patricia M. Wagner, Adam C. Solander, Evan Nagler, and Jonathan Hoerner

On September 2, 2015, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") announced a $750,000 settlement with Cancer Care Group, P.C. ("CCG"), a radiation oncology practice in Indiana, for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules violations. The alleged violations occurred in 2012, but a subsequent HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation led to allegations from OCR that there was a lack of compliance with HIPAA Privacy and ...

The Health Resources and Services Administration ("HRSA") issued a notice proposing guidance under the 340B Drug Pricing Program.  The proposed Omnibus Guidance was issued in pre-publication format and is available online at https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-21246.pdf.  The notice is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on August 28, 2015 and will be available at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/08/28/2015-21246/guidance-340b-drug-pricing-program-omnibus.

HRSA intends to finalize the proposed ...

We'd like to share some news with health care industry employers: Epstein Becker Green has released a new version of its Wage & Hour Guide for Employers app, available without charge for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry devices.

Following is from our colleague Michael Kun, co-creator of the app and leader of our Wage and Hour group:

We have just updated the app, and the update is a significant one.

While the app originally included summaries of federal wage-hour laws and those for several states and the District of Columbia, the app now includes wage-hour summaries for all 50 states ...

Reversing a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, an August 21, 2015 decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Home Care Association of America v. Weil (pdf) has approved a regulation by the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) extending federal minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers and live-in domestic service employees employed by third parties.

We previously wrote about the decision by the District Court for the District of Columbia that vacated a DOL regulation that had been ...

Telemental health seems to be emerging, even booming.  Also referred to as telebehaviorial health, e-counseling, e-therapy, online therapy, cybercounseling, or online counseling, for purposes of this post, I will define telemental health as the provision of remote mental health care services (usually via an audio/video secure platform) by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists.  Most services involve assessment, therapy, and/or diagnosis.   Over the last few years, I have seen a wider variety of care models—from ...

As many of you know, reimbursement for telehealth services is a mixed bag.  On the one hand, private payers generally seem ahead of the curve.  Many leading private insurers reimburse for telehealth.  Generally these coverage policies provide reimbursement for telehealth services when they involve the use of real-time interactive audio, video, or other electronic media for diagnosis and consultation.  Just as significantly, more than half the states and the District of Columbia have passed telehealth parity statutes which require health insurers to provide coverage for services ...

As stakeholders, legislators and policymakers wrestle with the myriad of issues related to the provision of remote health care, clinical and technological advancements continue apace. What was once an industry focused primarily on the provision of primary care through existing remote platforms is morphing into a highly sophisticated brew of clinical and technological innovation.  In that regard, several trends have caught my attention. While these trends may not squarely fall within the accepted definitions of “telehealth”, they are worth noting because they raise many ...

As telehealth legal and regulatory issues continue to evolve, stakeholders need to stay current on trending issues. With that in mind, we are offering a complimentary “crash course” webinar series in which we will discuss a number of significant legal and regulatory issues implicated by telehealth including reimbursement, state issues, and employers.

How Do I Get Paid?

During this first installment of EBG’s Telehealth Crash Course series, we will discuss the current reimbursement landscape, including distinctions between various payer models and the growing impact of ...

One thing's certain – the vast and growing supply of data contained in electronic medical records systems will play a significant role in improving the speed and efficiency of research into new treatments in the years to come.  The challenge will be striking an appropriate balance between the unquestionable promise of this data to enable research – research that will enhance available treatments and save lives – with the rights of individual patients in the privacy of their health information.  Attempts to strike that balance are at the heart of current legislative, regulatory ...