Health Law Advisor

What is the 8 and 80 overtime system?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) generally requires covered employers to pay non-exempt employees overtime for all hours worked over 40 hours in a work week. However, the FLSA provides an exception for certain employers in the health care industry, who are instead permitted to adopt a fixed work period of 14 consecutive days and pay overtime for all hours worked: (a) over 8 hours in a single day, or (b) over 80 hours in a 14-day work period.

Under the 8 and 80 overtime system, for example, an employee who works a 12-hour shift would be entitled ...

On June 29, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council (“Council”) approved an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage for people working at “covered healthcare facilities” in the city of Los Angeles (“City”) to $25 per hour.

We recently outlined key provisions of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Final Rule modifying the standards governing industry management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals, which become effective August 21, 2019. Client Alert

Impacted industries must immediately comply with the nationwide ban on the sewering of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals as of the August 21^st effective date.  The ban applies to a wide range of stakeholders, including, but not limited to reverse distributors, pharmacies, hospitals, and wholesalers.

Additional regulatory changes ...

With the passage of A.B. 30, California became the first state to require all acute-care hospitals and skilled-nursing facilities to develop and implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans. After years of wrangling with California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal OSHA”), the law became effective on April 1, 2018.

This statute was conceived by Cal OSHA, in conjunction with unions such as the California Nurses Association to address the high risk of workplace injuries faced by health care workers daily. Overall, health care workers ...

On April 14, 2017, CMS issued the FY 2018 Medicare Hospital IPPS Proposed Rule that includes numerous proposed changes.   However, there is a very small provision in this proposed rule that organizations may not be aware of …. especially those that are not hospitals and who normally would not look at the Hospital IPPS rule.

Within the rule, there is a section proposing to revise the application and re-application process for Accrediting Organizations so as to require them to post provider/supplier survey reports and plans of corrections on their website.   Although the survey results ...

Hospital M&A activity has been increasing recently, and when these transactions are public knowledge, opposition from the physician community (as well as the hospital staff) to such types of transactions may also be a side effect.  Physicians are vital to the operation of a hospital, and any resistance from the physician community, could be a tremendous obstacle, either slowing down the transaction or causing the potential buyer to pull out of the deal.  Hospital administrators, along with their advisors, should do their best to foresee any opposition and manage physicians ...

My earlier post explored various real estate strategies frequently used in hospital M&A transactions.  Each of those different approaches – using real estate assets to secure acquisition financing, increasing existing lines of credit, or monetizing the real estate assets through divestiture – reflect different objectives and opportunities.  But, real estate is more than "location, location, location" and "strategy, strategy, strategy"—there must also be "value, value, value".  The real estate market itself is the lynchpin to establishing the value of individual ...

Medical group acquisitions by hospitals will likely continue at a significant rate. Through these acquisitions, physicians can achieve efficiencies and economies of scale that may not be available to independent practices. While an acquisition offer might come as a welcome opportunity, the process involves a series of complex issues that can seem overwhelming. There are many steps that physician practices can take to help them seize opportunities and minimize issues that might delay or derail a deal.

• Preparing the Existing Entity Most doctors choose their career because they ...

Although not the only factor, government payment reform initiatives in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are widely perceived as driving health care market consolidation.  Perhaps more significantly than mergers between hospitals, the ACA has created new interest in mergers across service lines (as reported here,  here, and here).  Hospitals, physician groups, outpatient centers, post-acute providers, and even insurance carriers are combining with each other in all sorts of ways and at an accelerating pace. Depending on who you talk to in government,  this activity is (1)  paving the ...

by Pamela D. Tyner

Social media have become de rigueur globally.  Today, millions maintain connections with their friends, relatives and business acquaintances via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube.  Recent studies indicate that social media popularity even predicts polling popularity and the stock market.  Translated to the healthcare arena, healthcare facilities and organizations are now trained to promote their business by communicating effectively via social media.  In addition, patients, physicians and employees of healthcare facilities and ...

by Pamela D. Tyner

Physicians and healthcare workers devote years to improving the quality of their patients’ lives.  Despite the Hippocratic code and compulsory non-retaliation policies, incidents of disruptive behavior from physicians and healthcare workers, though largely shielded from the general public, continue to frequently surface internally at healthcare environments.  Amidst recent jarring headlines of workplace violence and bullying, news media have discovered this same trend is also on the rise as healthcare facilities across the nation struggle to ...