In recent years, Michigan has been home to two of the largest sexual abuse scandals involving doctors in history: the sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar while employed by Michigan State University and the sexual abuse committed by Robert Anderson while employed by the University of Michigan. In both circumstances, the former doctors carried out their sexual abuse under the guise of medical procedures and without the informed consent of their targets. Michigan is not alone in being home to these types of sexual abuse scandals as similar acts have been alleged to have been committed by many ..read more

After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) was tasked with responding to how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) would be affected. Particularly, HHS’s Office for Civil Rights has released guidance regarding how the HIPAA Privacy Rule may or may not permit disclosure of an individual’s sexual and reproductive health information without express authorization from the patient. Read More › Tags: Alerts and Updates, Elect ..read more

On April 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an update to the COVID-19 emergency declaration blanket waivers for specific providers. The memorandum, which was issued by the Director of the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group, details the numerous changes that will take place within 30 or 60 days of the memorandum’s publication. Read More › Tags: Alerts and Updates, Health Care Reform, Hospitals, Medicare, Medicare/Medicaid ..read more

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have recently released updated guidance regarding hospital co-locations arrangements. After nearly two years of deliberations and revisions, the final Guidance for Hospital Co-location with Other Hospitals or Health Care Facilities (the “Final Guidance”) was released on November 12, 2021 and took effect immediately upon publication. The Final Guidance is meant to address how CMS and other state agency surveyors will evaluate how hospitals share their space, services, and staff. Read More › Tags: Health Care Reform, Hospice, Hospi ..read more

On December 27, 2021, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 759 into law, which took effect immediately. SB 759 allows individuals without a license for the practice of a health profession to perform certain limited duties. For example, students in a health profession training program may perform duties assigned while training. Read More › Tags: Alerts and Updates, Health Care Reform, Licensing, News ..read more

On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) on Promoting Competition in the American Economy where he seeks to address many facets of the American economy and promote a more competitive marketplace. Read More › Tags: Health Care Reform ..read more

On March 2, 2021, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (“MDHHS”) issued an Emergency Order that relaxes the visitation requirements for residential care facilities. The December 8, 2020 MDHHS Order involving residential care facilities was rescinded. The March 2, 2021 Order (the “Order”) became effective immediately. Read More › Tags: Alerts and Updates, Health Care Reform, Hospice, Long-Term Care, News ..read more

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued two highly-anticipated final rules (collectively, the “Final Rule”) to modernize and clarify the regulations that interpret the Physician Self-Referral Statute (“Stark”) and the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”). According to HHS, the Final Rule was intended to provide greater flexibility for healthcare providers to participate in value-based arrangements, ease unnecessary compliance burdens, and maintain safeguards to protect patients and Federal healthcare programs from fraud and abuse. The Final Rule will become effective ..read more

As health care providers continue to face new challenges relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for providers to maintain compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). Although the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has loosened some requirements to allow health care providers flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of the patient protections under the HIPAA Privacy Rule have remained intact. Read More › Tags: Compliance, Cybersecurity, Electronic Health Records, HIPAA ..read more

As if COVID-19 wasn’t enough of a challenge for many struggling hospitals and health care systems, there is another growing threat they must guard against: cyberattacks. On October 28, 2020, the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a report warning of "an increased and imminent cybercrime threat" to U.S. hospitals and health care providers. Read More › Tags: Cybersecurity, Electronic Health Records, Hospice, Hospitals ..read more