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New York Federal Court Rules Public Hospitals Are Exempt from State Labor Laws

October 22, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

On October 16, 2013, a New York federal district court granted a partial motion to dismiss a class action suit brought against the New York City Health & Hospitals Corp.
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CMS Issues Star Ratings for the 2014 Plan Year

October 14, 2013 | Blog | By Roy Albert

On October 11, 2013, CMS posted the 2014 Medicare Health Plan Quality and Performance Ratings, which are commonly referred to as “Star Ratings.” CMS released the 2014 Star Ratings several days later than originally scheduled, worrying some Plan Sponsors and analysts.
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The Government Shut Down and Its Impact on Public Health*

October 3, 2013 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch

In the early morning of October 1, 2013, the U.S. federal government officially went dark. The shutdown came in the aftermath of the Senate’s decisive vote to reject a House plan that would have kept the government funded for several more months but delayed implementation of key portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for one year.
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The False Claims Act is Not a License to Divulge Employer Confidences

October 3, 2013 | Blog | By Brian Dunphy

Health care employers concerned that former employees may misappropriate the company’s confidential information to support qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) received guidance from a recent court decision. 
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Bipartisan Agreement Reached on Legislation Granting FDA Greater Authority to Regulate Drug Compounders

October 1, 2013 | Blog | By Roy Albert

Last week, Democrat and Republican leaders of both houses of Congress agreed to the terms of a bill that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) greater authority to regulate drug compounding and would revamp the way drugs are tracked from the manufacturer to the pharmacy. 
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Want to Turn on Your Employer? There’s an App for That.

September 26, 2013 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch

Plaintiffs’ firms looking to capitalize on the growth in whistleblower litigation are turning to smart phone technology to try to gain a competitive edge. Well known Delaware plaintiffs’ class action law firm Grant & Eisenhofer is attempting to enlarge its footprint in the burgeoning qui tam litigation field with a new smart phone app called, “Whistleblower Laws.
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Hearing to Address HIPAA Accounting of Disclosures

September 25, 2013 | Blog | By Kimberly Gold

The HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee's Privacy and Security Tiger Team will hold a virtual, public hearing on Monday, September 30 from 11:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT to discuss approaches for providing patients with greater transparency about the uses and disclosures of their electronic protected health information (PHI).
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FDA Issues Final Mobile Medical App Guidance

September 24, 2013 | Blog | By Kimberly Gold

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued long-awaited final guidance for developers of mobile medical apps. The final guidance comes more than two years after the FDA published its draft guidance in July 2011. 
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Will Usual and Customary Price be the Next False Claims Act Battleground?

September 23, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

Recently, a federal judge held that a qui tam relator’s allegations that a pharmacy routinely reported falsely inflated “usual and customary” prices for generic medications in claims submitted to federally funded health care programs, was sufficient to state a cause of action under the federal and certain state false claims acts.
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OCR Clarifies Scope of HIPAA Prescription Refill Reminder Exception

September 20, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

In response to recent litigation as well as concerns from the health care industry and privacy advocates, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published guidance regarding the scope of the refill reminder exception under the HIPAA Omnibus Rule.
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OCR Delays Required Changes to Notices of Privacy Practices for Laboratories

September 20, 2013 | Blog

The HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has granted certain clinical laboratories a temporary reprieve from the requirement to update their Notices of Privacy Practices (NPPs) by September 23, 2013, the deadline imposed by the HIPAA Omnibus Rule. 
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Interagency Initiative Targets Consumer Fraud in the ACA Exchange Marketplace

September 19, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

Yesterday, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced an interagency initiative to prevent consumer fraud and privacy violations in connection with the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Marketplace.
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OCR Publishes Model Notice of Privacy Practices

September 16, 2013 | Blog | By Kimberly Gold

With the September 23, 2013 compliance date for the HIPAA Omnibus Rule only one week away, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have developed model Notices of Privacy Practices (“NPP”) to help health care providers and health plans ensure compliance.
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Massachusetts Launches New Program to Combat Provider Fraud

September 12, 2013 | Blog | By Kimberly Gold

Last week, the Massachusetts’ Secretary of Health and Human Services, John Polanowicz, announced the launch of a new $5 million program designed to detect and prevent provider fraud, waste, and abuse in MassHealth, the Commonwealth’s Medicaid program.
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OCR Guidance to Address HIPAA Marketing Turmoil

September 12, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

In response to a recent lawsuit and outcry from a variety of players in the health care market, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has committed to issuing guidance by September 23rd (the compliance date for the Rule) on the drug refill provisions in the HIPAA Omnibus Rule (the “Rule”).
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HIPAA Marketing Rules Prompt First Amendment Challenge

September 10, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

In what is believed to be the first legal challenge to the HIPAA Omnibus Rule (the “Rule”), a vendor of prescription drug adherence services is seeking an injunction to block certain provisions of the Rule related to drug refill reminders.
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Serial Relator Getting the Boot?

September 5, 2013 | Blog | By Samantha Kingsbury

This past Friday, hospital company HCA Holdings, Inc. asked a federal court judge to dismiss a False Claims Act (FCA) suit filed by whistleblower and former employee, Stephen McMullen.
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Fifth Circuit Joins Chorus to Rein in False Claims Act

August 27, 2013 | Blog | By Brian Dunphy

Add the Fifth Circuit to the list of jurisdictions questioning the use of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) in instances where - using the theory of implied certification - the alleged falsity is not apparent on the face of the claim. 
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Government Prosecution in Qui Tam Cases Continues to Focus on Pharmaceutical Companies’ Sales and Marketing Activities

August 21, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie

Qui tam actions filed against health care organizations unsealed in 2013 reveal that, although the government intervenes in less than 40% of qui tam actions, the government continues to aggressively prosecute multiple aspects of pharmaceutical companies’ sales and marketing activities.
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Seven-Figure HIPAA Settlement Prompted by Photocopier Breach

August 15, 2013 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie, Dianne Bourque

The Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) latest seven-figure fine for HIPAA violations resulted from a failure to remove protected health information or “PHI” from the hard drive of a leased photocopier.
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