COVID-19 Viewpoints

Last Thursday, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine (BORIM) approved its first permanent telehealth policy. The Board had previously approved this policy on an “interim” basis in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2020. This policy is an important step for the Massachusetts BORIM as it had previously hesitated to provide any formal guidance on the practice of telehealth.

ML Strategies and Mintz continue to engage with key decision makers on various energy and sustainability matters before the Congress and Administration. Federal efforts on these issues have continued apace as part of and separately from the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

As discussed in an earlier post, colleges and universities are facing a wave of class action lawsuits seeking refunds of tuition, fees, and room and board expenses after schools closed their campus in the spring of 2020 in response to COVID-19.

Across the United States, students have brought over 100 class action lawsuits against public and private colleges and universities seeking refunds of tuition, fees, and room and board expenses after schools closed their physical facilities, including their classrooms and residence halls, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (“Senate HELP”) held a hearing entitled “Telehealth: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," during which the Committee members expressed support for permanently expanding access to telehealth services. In this blog post, we discuss the Committee's proposals and the additional steps needed to permanently expand access to telehealth.

This alert outlines President Trump’s June 22, 2020 travel ban proclamation, which extends a temporary travel ban announced on April 22, 2020 that restricted certain individuals issued immigrant visas at U.S. consulates from entering the US.

Since the early days of the pandemic, Mintz’s COVID-19 Compliance & Enforcement Defense Task Force has closely monitored and advised clients on the evolving COVID-19 relief programs, including those created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The CARES Act provided for over $2 trillion in relief funds, which is the largest emergency assistance package in American history. The numerous CARES Act programs have continued to develop through, among other things, the passage of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, and rapidly changing regulatory guidance and FAQs. As one example, the government recently wrestled with whether to make public the list of about 4.6 million entities that received more than $500 billion from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the CARES Act. After initially refusing to disclose PPP loan recipients, the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department decided to make public the names of entities that received loans larger than $150,000, as well as the dollar range of each loan.

On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced they would again extend flexibility related to in-person Form I-9 compliance that was granted earlier this year, in March 2020.

Late last week, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance aimed at “making sure misconceptions about HIPAA do not get in the way of a promising COVID-19 response,” according to OCR Director Roger Severino. That “promising response” relates to emerging evidence that plasma from recovered patients (often referred to as “convalescent plasma”) may contain antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Those antibodies could be useful in treating individuals who are sick with COVID-19. The OCR’s guidance addresses how health care providers may contact, in a HIPAA-compliant manner, recovered COVID-19 patients to provide them with information about donating blood and plasma to potentially help other COVID-19 patients.

On Monday, June 15, 2020, 14 Passport Agencies entered the first phase of a three-phase re-opening plan. Beginning in March, all Passport Agencies were closed to in-person appointments for urgent passport applications except in cases of documented life or death emergencies requiring international travel within 3 days.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced its first criminal securities fraud prosecution related to COVID-19, and it involves health care fraud as well. Mark Schena, president of Arrayit Corporation, a publicly traded medical technology company, faces criminal charges in connection with false and fraudulent claims submitted for allergy and COVID-19 testing. The complaint charges Schena with one count of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. From 2018 to present, Arrayit, under Schena’s direction, allegedly submitted or caused the submission of over $5.9 million in Medicare claims and over $63 million in private insurance claims for allergy and COVID-19 tests that were not medically necessary, were not provided as claimed, or were tainted by the payment of kickbacks and bribes.

In an interview yesterday, CMS administrator Seema Verma expressed support for permanently expanding access to telehealth services after the COVID-19 public health emergency resolves. Here, we explore the nature and duration of the temporary executive and regulatory orders, emergency legislation, and sub-regulatory guidance, which have resulted greater access to telehealth while leaving a fair amount of uncertainty as to what the future of telehealth looks like.

On Monday New York City entered Phase 1 of re-opening. Phase 1 guidance provides specific guidelines relating to construction, manufacturing, whole trade and select retail (for curbside pickup only), agriculture, forestry and fishing. For purposes of this publication, we have focused on the State of New York’s mandatory summary guidelines for construction related activities. Many real estate developers will fall under the umbrella of “construction businesses” and we are providing an overview of the construction specific requirements established by the guidance issued by the New York State Department of Health.

In late May, guidance for Phase 2 of Governor Cuomo’s New York Forward re-opening plan was issued. New York City is expected to enter into Phase 1 on June 8th, and thereafter Phase 2, provided certain thresholds are satisfied.

On May 26, 2020 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that it is further extending its suspension of operations at all Trusted Traveler enrollment centers until at least July 6, 2020 to protect CBP officers and the general public from exposure to COVID-19.

The June issue of Energy & Sustainability Connections covers news about renewable energy development company East Light Partners, energy policy news from Washington, recent M&A activity & more.

On May 29, 2020, President Trump issued a proclamation suspending the entry of certain Chinese F-1 and J-1 foreign students and exchange visitors who have ties to Chinese institutions that support the People’s Republic of China military initiatives.