On the evening of Wednesday, December 22, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that it will hold a special session on January 7, 2022, to hear oral argument in cases concerning whether two Biden administration vaccine mandates should be stayed. One is an interim final rule promulgated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”); the other is an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”). The CMS interim final rule, presently stayed in 24 states, would require COVID-19 vaccination for staff employed at Medicare and Medicaid certified providers and suppliers. The OSHA ETS, which requires businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure that workers are vaccinated against the coronavirus or otherwise to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, was allowed to take effect when a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, to which the consolidated challenges had been assigned by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a ruling, on December 17, 2021, lifting a stay that had been previously entered by the Fifth Circuit. Multiple private sector litigants and states immediately challenged the decision.
Our colleague at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Health Law Advisor blog that will be of interest to our readers in the health care industry: “NIST Seeks Comments on Cybersecurity Standards For Patient Imaging Devices.”
Following is an excerpt:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST) has announced that it will be seeking industry input on developing “use cases” for its framework of cybersecurity standards related to patient imaging devices. NIST, a component of the Department of Commerce, is the agency assigned to the ...
Our colleague at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Technology Employment Law blog that will be of interest to our readers: “The GDPR Soon Will Go Into Effect, and U.S. Companies Have to Prepare.”
Following is an excerpt:
The European Union’s (“EU’s”) General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”) go into effect on May 25, 2018, and they clearly apply to U.S. companies doing business in Europe or offering goods and services online that EU residents can purchase. Given that many U.S. companies, particularly in the health care space ...
Our colleague at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Technology Employment Law blog that will be of interest to our readers in the health care industry: “The GDPR Soon Will Go Into Effect, and U.S. Companies Have to Prepare."
Following is an excerpt:
The European Union’s (“EU’s”) General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”) go into effect on May 25, 2018, and they clearly apply to U.S. companies doing business in Europe or offering goods and services online that EU residents can purchase. Given that many U.S. companies, particularly in the health ...
Surprisingly amidst the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uproar, President Trump today signed an executive order addressing cybersecurity for the federal government and critical infrastructure, along with international coordination and cyber deterrence. The substance of the order, which is about to be made public, comes from various press releases and interviews with administration officials. The order is composed of three sections on cybersecurity and IT modernization within the federal government, protecting critical infrastructure, and establishing a cyber ...
Both the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General have long urged (and in many cases, mandated through settlements that include Corporate Integrity Agreements and through court judgments) that health care organizations have "top-down" compliance programs with vigorous board of directors implementation and oversight. Governmental reach only increased with the publication by DoJ of the so-called Yates Memorandum, which focused government enforcers on potential individual liability for corporate management and directors in ...
The Information Sharing and Analysis Organization-Standards Organization (ISAO-SO) was set up under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to a Presidential Executive Order intended to foster threat vector sharing among private entities and with the government. ISAOs are proliferating in many critical infrastructure fields, including health care, where cybersecurity and data privacy are particularly sensitive issues given HIPAA requirements and disproportionate industry human and systems vulnerabilities. Therefore, in advising their companies ...
[caption id="attachment_1416" align="alignright" width="113"] Stuart Gerson[/caption]
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided (6-2, with Kennedy writing for the majority and Ginsburg and Sotomayor dissenting) the case of Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. The matter before the Court involved Vermont law requiring certain entities, including health insurers, to report payments relating to health care claims and other information relating to health care services to a state agency for compilation in an all-inclusive health care database.
In an important victory ...
On December 15, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens, a class action removal case.
In short, the Dart case is welcome news to employers. Standards for removing a case from state to federal court have been an abiding point of concern for employers faced with "home town" class actions. In more recent times, this problem has become a point of interest to employers in health care and other industries that are beset by cybersecurity and data breach cases originating in state courts but calling for the application of federal privacy ...
On Thursday, October 30, 2014, our colleague Stuart M. Gerson of Epstein Becker Green’s Litigation and Health Care and Life Sciences practices in the firm's Washington, DC and New York offices will discuss the Hobby Lobby decision and its impact on the workplace. The briefing will be held at the Cornell ILR School of Labor and Employment. Other panelists include Marci A. Hamilton, Esq., Paul R. Verkuil, Esq., Arthur S. Leonard, Esq., and Paul W. Mollica, Esq.
Click here to learn more and to register
When:
Thursday, October 30, 2014
8:30am – Registration & Breakfast
In the wake of the Hobby Lobby ruling with respect to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive coverage mandate, the Administration (which already has taken steps to fund contraception for employees affected by their employers' exemption) is attempting also to deal with the issue by a recently-published DHHS regulation setting forth the procedures that "religious" employers might follow to gain exemption from having to provide contraceptive coverage in their sponsored health plans. The proposed rule covers both religious not-for-profits and closely held ...
By Adam C. Solander, Kara M. Maciel, Mark M. Trapp, and Stuart M. Gerson
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sent shockwaves through the country when they issued conflicting opinions on a key aspect of the ACA. The cases are Halbig v. Burwell, D.C. Cir., No. 14-508 and King v. Burwell, 4th Cir., No. 14-1158. The question at issue in both cases was whether the IRS has the authority to administer subsidies in federally facilitated exchanges when the statute itself specifically authorizes subsides only in ...
By: Adam C. Solander, Kara M. Maciel, Mark M. Trapp, and Stuart M. Gerson
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sent shockwaves through the country when they issued conflicting opinions on a key aspect of the ACA. The cases are Halbig v. Burwell, D.C. Cir., No. 14-508 and King v. Burwell, 4th Cir., No. 14-1158. The question at issue in both cases was whether the IRS has the authority to administer subsidies in federally facilitated exchanges when the statute itself specifically authorizes subsides only in ...
Our colleagues at Epstein Becker Green released a client alert: "DC Circuit Strongly Reaffirms the Applicability of the Attorney-Client Privilege to Internal Compliance Investigations," by George B. Breen, Jonah D. Retzinger, Marshall E. Jackson Jr., and Stuart M. Gerson.
Following is an excerpt:
Especially in the District of Columbia Circuit, the home base for many fraud cases in which the government is opposed to health care providers and defense contractors, there had been considerable doubt that the attorney-client privilege attached to internal compliance ...
Our colleague Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green has a new post on the Supreme Court's recent decisions: "Divided Supreme Court Issues Decisions on Harris and Hobby Lobby."
Following is an excerpt:
As expected, the last day of the Supreme Court's term proved to be an incendiary one with the recent spirit of Court unanimity broken by two 5-4 decisions in highly-controversial cases. The media and various interest groups already are reporting the results and, as often is the case in cause-oriented litigation, they are not entirely accurate in their analyses of either opinion.
In ...
Our colleague Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green has a new post on the Supreme Court’s recent decisions: “Divided Supreme Court Issues Decisions on Harris and Hobby Lobby.”
Following is an excerpt:
As expected, the last day of the Supreme Court’s term proved to be an incendiary one with the recent spirit of Court unanimity broken by two 5-4 decisions in highly-controversial cases. The media and various interest groups already are reporting the results and, as often is the case in cause-oriented litigation, they are not entirely accurate in their analyses of either ...
I was recently quoted in an article titled "4th Circuit Upholds ACA's Employer Mandate, Says Insurance Regulation Within Commerce," by Mary Anne Pazanowski, in Bloomberg BNA's Health Care Daily Report. Following is an excerpt:
A unanimous U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit July 11 declared the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate a valid exercise of Congress's power to regulate commerce under the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause (Liberty University Inc. v. Lew, 4th Cir., No. 10-2347, 7/11/13).
In an opinion co-authored by Judges Diana Gribbon Motz, James A. Wynn ...
Our Epstein Becker Green colleague Stuart M. Gerson recently commented in an article titled "4th Circuit Upholds ACA's Employer Mandate, Says Insurance Regulation Within Commerce," by Mary Anne Pazanowski, in Bloomberg BNA's Health Care Daily Report.
Following is an excerpt:
A unanimous U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit July 11 declared the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate a valid exercise of Congress's power to regulate commerce under the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause (Liberty University Inc. v. Lew, 4th Cir., No. 10-2347, 7/11/13).
In an opinion ...
Stuart Gerson, a Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care and Life Sciences practices at Epstein Becker Green, authored an article titled "The Supreme Court Has Decided, but Can America Afford the Affordable Care Act?"
Following is an excerpt:
By now, every American who pays any attention to the news is aware that on the last day of its now concluded term, the U.S. Supreme Court, with its June 28 decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, U.S., No. 11-393, 6/28/12, has upheld essentially all of the Obama Administration's Affordable Care Act (ACA ...
On Monday, July 2, 2012, Epstein Becker Green conducted a webinar titled "Decision 2012: What's In, What's Out, and What's Next?" examining the monumental decision (PDF) issued by the Supreme Court of the United States on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
This webinar analyzed the decision and its implications for the states, the health care and life sciences industry, and employers. It also addressed potential congressional activity and the decision's impact on the presidential election.
On Monday, July 2, 2012, Epstein Becker Green conducted a webinar titled "Decision 2012: What's In, What's Out, and What's Next?" examining the monumental decision (PDF) issued by the Supreme Court of the United States on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
This webinar analyzed the decision and its implications for the states, the health care and life sciences industry, and employers. It also addressed potential congressional activity and the decision's impact on the presidential election.
By now, every American who pays any attention to the news is aware that the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld essentially all of the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act. We have posted a copy of the lengthy opinion, concurrence, and dissent on our website. For now, we should be focusing on what the case of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius actually will cause to occur.
By now, every American who pays any attention to the news is aware that the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld essentially all of the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act. We have posted a copy of the lengthy opinion, concurrence, and dissent on our website. For now, we should be focusing on what the case of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius actually will cause to occur.
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