Walmart Health announced plans to close all 51 of their health care clinics and virtual health care operations, citing a lack of profitability. A Walmart spokesperson said, “Health care is expensive to run. We were finding that the increased labor and operating costs environment, like with reimbursement, both public and private, made it difficult [to run the business] and obvious we had to close.” The Oakland Athletics will play ball at the newly named Sutter Health Park for the next two years. This is the first time a major league sports franchise will be playing at a venue named after a hos ..read more

On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a final rule (“Final Rule”) scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2024. The Final Rule updates regulations concerning the exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative and professional employees (“E/A/P”) authorized under Section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). In particular, the Final Rule increases the standard salary level and the highly compensated employee total compensation thresholds for E/A/P employees to be exempt from the minimum wage and overtime pay requireme ..read more

JLL issued a Medical Outpatient Building Perspective whitepaper. Key takeaways: (i) outpatient volumes will continue to grow, particularly in off-campus MOBs; (ii) MOB demand has outpaced supply since 2021, causing occupancy to rise; (iii) rising construction costs are leading to less new construction; and (iv) MOB cap rates have risen 100-150 bps since Q4 2022. The FTC approved a final rule banning nearly all non-competes. The rule adopts a complete ban on new non-competes with workers at for-profit companies, and it voids existing non-competes for workers other than senior executives. The r ..read more

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted 3-2 along party lines to adopt a final rule (the “Final Rule”) banning most companies from entering into or enforcing non-compete clauses. Adoption of the Final Rule comes after more than a year of review following the publication of the Proposed Rule in early 2023. The Final Rule is scheduled to go into effect 120 days from publication in the Federal Register (the “Effective Date”). Summary of the Final Rule With the Final Rule, the FTC has determined that non-compete clauses constitute an unfair method of competition in violation ..read more

Health care continues to drive private equity (“PE”) activity, creating opportunities for investors and traditional health care providers. Transactions in the health care space are especially complicated, layering health care regulatory and reimbursement considerations on top of a complex securities, antitrust, privacy and security framework. Hall Render’s PE team of attorneys and advisors leverage the strength and depth of our bench to navigate and efficiently execute PE transactions. The summary below includes highlights of recent PE deals and legislative updates. Incline Equity Partners re ..read more

On April 10, 2024, CMS released the FY 2025 IPPS Proposed Rule (“Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule updates Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) payment rates and makes changes to Disproportionate Share Hospital (“DSH”) payments, various Quality Reporting Programs and requests feedback from the public on several issues. Increase to Payment Rates Under the IPPS CMS proposes to increase operating payment rates for IPPS acute care hospitals by 3% with a productivity adjustment of 0.4 % for FY 2025 resulting in a proposed increase of 2.6%. CMS estimates that changes in operating and capi ..read more

Medical Properties Trust has sold its interests in ten hospitals for approximately $1.1 billion. Five of the hospitals are located in Utah and leased to an affiliate of CommonSpirit. They were sold to a joint venture. The remaining five hospitals are located in California and New Jersey. They were sold to Prime Healthcare. The hottest job markets in 2023, according to the Wall Street Journal and Moody’s Analytics, were 1) Salt Lake City; 2) Jacksonville; 3) Orlando; 4) Tampa; and 5) Oklahoma City. The rankings were based on employment rate, labor force participation, changes in employment lev ..read more

NATIONAL 96% of hospitals share website data: Study 5 numbers on the rise of Stark law violations Aetna lawsuit could reshape MA supplemental benefits AHA concerned over penalties for cybersecurity standards Corporate groups pass hospitals in ownership of physician practices Doctors suggest ways to improve Medicare for physician payments, patient care EEOC finalizes rule to implement pregnant worker protection law Fewer doctors are going into pediatrics. That’s leaving a huge gap in hospitals Health sector wary as Congress starts Change hearings Hospital group calls HHS’ web tracking rules un ..read more

On Thursday, April 18, 2024, the Health and Human Services Department (“HHS”) published a Final Rule implementing 340B Program Administrative Dispute Resolution Regulations (“ADR Rule”), which can be found here. The ADR Rule is set to be published on April 19, 2024, and will go into effect 60 days after the publication date which should be Tuesday, June 18, 2024. According to HHS, the final ADR Rule aims to accomplish five goals: Increase the accessibility of Administrative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) for covered entities by moving away from a trial-like process to an administrative process th ..read more

On April 17, 2024, the United States Supreme Court issued an important decision under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) which clarifies the harm necessary to make a claim of discrimination actionable when the claim rests on a job transfer. Title VII provides, in part, that it is unlawful “to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” The Muldrow Decisi ..read more