On Monday March 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published blanket waivers to some of the Stark law requirements. The waivers are detailed and provide many examples of how they will apply. You can view the waivers here, but we think the important takeaways are as follows:
Powers attorneys Rebecca Burke and Megan La Suer hosted a webinar last week that discussed the impact of COVID-19 on Medicare and Medicaid telehealth waivers.
The full PowerPoint presentation can be seen here.*
*Slides are current as of March 31, 2020.
Congress and the Trump Administration have taken several key steps to address the expanding public health crisis caused by the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, while at the same time trying to staunch the negative repercussions currently affecting the nation’s employment and financial markets. To stay up to date on the latest news and insights from the Powers Law Firm, please visit our COVID-19 resource page: https://www.powerslaw.com/covid-19/.
Congress and the Trump Administration have taken several key steps to address the expanding public health crisis caused by the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, while at the same time trying to staunch the negative repercussions currently affecting the nation’s employment and financial markets. To stay up to date on the latest news and insights from the Powers Law Firm, please visit our COVID-19 resource page: https://www.powerslaw.com/covid-19/.
To alleviate cash flow problems, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is allowing Part A providers and Part B suppliers to request accelerated/advance Medicare payments. Read More
The Powers legislative practice released a memorandum today summarizing the second emergency bill pass to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19), known as the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Click here to read the full memo.
Powers Senior Director of Government Affairs Jeremy Scott presented last week at the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacists Association’s (HOPA) 16th Annual conference—HOPA AHEAD 2020.
The Powers legislative practice group released a memorandum today that summarizes the emergency spending bill enacted by the Trump Administration to combat the coronavirus, as well as the series of waivers issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which grant health care providers greater flexibility in treating patients. Click here to read the full memo.
In guidance released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 17, 2020, the Administration greatly expanded Medicare coverage of telehealth services to cope with the national public health emergency posed by COVID-19 describing broadened access to telehealth services under Medicare. This guidance and an accompanying set of FAQs implements legislation enacted on March 6, 2020 which, among other things, gave the Secretary of HHS discretion to waive statutory rural and site of service coverage restrictions on services provided via telehealth.
The emergency supplemental appropriations bill enacted on March 6 deemed the coronavirus a “disaster” such that amounts included in the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Disaster Assistance Loan Program, supported by $1 billion in loan subsidies, may now be utilized by small businesses and private non-profit organizations to obtain loans to cover financial losses incurred as a result of the ongoing emergency. Information on how SBA will implement this provision and grant loans of up to $2 million is provided here.
On Friday, the President declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act. This declaration allows the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Azar to waive certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s Health Insurance programs and of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule throughout the duration of this emergency under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act.
Powers Principal Barbara Williams will present at the 340B Coalition Winter Conference in San Diego in a session titled, “Understanding Medicare Provider-Based Rules and Implications for 340B Child Site Registration.”
Powers Principal Bill von Oehsen will present at the 340B Coalition Winter Conference in San Diego in a session titled, “Navigating HRSA Audits and Taking Corrective Action.
Powers Counsel Rebecca Burke will present at the CTeL Fall Summit on Thursday, December 5.
Powers Senior Counsel Jim Pyles co-authored a chapter in the recently published Textbook of Applied Psychoanalysis. The chapter, which Mr. Pyles wrote with his brother, Robert L. Pyles, M.D., discusses an ethical approach to health reform and asserts that health reform legislation must give priority to the individual’s interest in personal autonomy and privacy.
Powers Principal Bill con Oehsen presented at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Region 9 Annual Conference on November 12th.
On October 17, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would make a number of modifications to the regulations implementing the physician self-referral or “Stark” law. Powers released a memo summarizing those proposed changes. Read it here.
Powers Counsel Christina Hughes will present this week in a webinar hosted by the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA).
Powers is pleased to announce that Mark Ogunsusi, Pharm. D., J.D., has joined the firm as a Healthcare Associate in the 340B Program and Drug Pricing practice group.
