In July 2013 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)issued a final regulation allowing 340B covered entities (public safety-net health providers) to purchase orphan drugs at the discounted 340B prices even when the drugs aren’t used to treat […]
Catherine Nazari, an unsatisfied plastic surgery patient, voiced her dissatisfaction with her physician Jean Loftus online. The comments were critical of Dr. Loftus, so Loftus filed suit for defamation and tortious interference.
Unfortunately for the physician, and an important lesson for […]
Prior to 2014, employers could reimburse employees for some or all of their costs to obtain their own individual health insurance policies rather than offering health plans directly to the employees. This benefit was tax-free to employees, whether the employer […]
A new Security Risk Assessment tool is now available to help small and medium sized offices “conduct an accurate and thorough assessment of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information.”* The […]
How do doctors know when Spring has arrived? When Congress passes a temporary patch to avoid the reimbursement cuts required by the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate reimbursement formula (“SGR”).
Enacted in 1997, SGR imposes Medicare reimbursement cuts for physicians and other […]
Health care professionals must exercise extreme caution when selecting and working with third party vendors because, as Stanford University Hospital & Clinics (SHC) recently learned, problems can arise when vendors fail to follow the law.
One of SHC’s vendors subcontracted out […]
The DOJ and HHS implemented the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative in 2009 to combat healthcare fraud and abuse. HEAT has achieved many victories against healthcare providers and these three recent settlements illustrate that providers […]
Patient referrals by physicians are a common practice. They can benefit patients, but they can also constitute fraud and abuse when illegal financial arrangements are involved. And, as one healthcare practice recently learned, such financial arrangements can lead to multi-million […]