A State-Based Cure – Interested Government Agency J-1 Waivers for Physicians

Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 41,  No. 1 Recently, the president of the American Medical Association, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, stated in a national address that the physician shortage long-feared is here and that “It’s an urgent crisis…hitting every corner of this country—urban and rural—with the most direct impacting hitting families with high needs and limited …

Top Issues in Negotiating Physician Employment Agreements

Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40,  No. 12 Successful negotiation of physician employment agreements requires a careful balance of the objectives of the prospective employer with those of the prospective employee while ensuring that the negotiated agreement complies with the federal and state laws that apply to agreements of this type.  The prospective employer wants …

Major Nursing Shortages? Foreign National Nursing Intervention as a Plan of Care.

Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40,  No. 11 The nursing profession’s vital signs are unstable and require an intervention. The single largest occupation of health care workers is Registered Nurses (RN). It is also the fifth largest profession nationally.[1] Yet the nursing profession is facing extreme shortages as the need for health care workers grows. Specifically, …

Value-Based Care Ushers in a New Era for Primary Care Providers

Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40,  No. 10 In an age of highly polarized opinions, there is a common consensus to address the rapidly rising health care costs in the United States. Research shows that the US average gross national product for health care costs is 17.1% while the rest of the world average is …

Physician Recruitment: How Hospitals Can Comply With Stark Law While Recruiting Top Talent

Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40,  No. 8 Hospitals play a vital role in ensuring the well-being of communities by recruiting and employing skilled physicians. However, physician recruitment in compliance with the Stark Law can be a complex task for hospital administrators, especially as hospitals and medical practices face an average 7.6% annual physician …

Michigan Medical Spas: Is the Wild West No More?

There’s a new sheriff in town, and they are looking to crack down on medical spas in Michigan. Medical spas offering minimally invasive cosmetic medical services have enjoyed increasing popularity in the State of Michigan and across the United States. But with great success comes greater scrutiny of the so-called “Wild West” of the healthcare …

Immigration Healthcare Cures for Physicians – A Quixotic Venture?

On February 12, 2022, the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship of the House Committee on the Judiciary held a very informative hearing regarding the relevance of foreign physicians in the healthcare system of the United States (U.S.).  The hearing was titled, “Is There a Doctor in the House? The Role of Immigrant Physicians in the …

Recent Guidance on Enforceability of Physician Non-Competes

As previously reported here, courts are known to “blue pencil” terms of non-compete provisions in employment agreements that do not appear to further legitimate business interests. Earlier this year, an Ohio appellate court affirmed the lower court’s modification of the scope and duration of a challenged non-compete provision found to be partially unreasonable. In Metrohealth …

A Call for Rational Immigration Reforms to Address Critical Healthcare Shortages

We owe a tremendous debt to the healthcare worker battalion, who fought, and continues to fight, to save lives globally during this pandemic.  It is important to consider that while the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the severe healthcare worker shortages globally, we are now facing an increasing percentage of burnout departures in the industry.  For …

Update to the ALJ Backlog for Medicare Appeals

For the majority of the 2010s, the Medicare appeals process had become extremely backlogged. The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (“OMHA”) is in charge of administering the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) hearing program for appeals arising from Medicare claims and disputes. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1395ff(d)(1)(A), an ALJ is statutorily required to provide …