Legal and practical healthcare information.
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, …
Continue reading “Major Nursing Shortages? Foreign National Nursing Intervention as a Plan of Care.”
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 …
Continue reading “Value-Based Care Ushers in a New Era for Primary Care Providers”
Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40, No. 9 Adverse tax issues can arise for physicians and other professional practice groups interested in issuing equity to attract and retain junior physicians. If equity is issued at below fair market value, the new equity owner will incur significant federal income tax consequences on issuance. If the new …
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 …
The Federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) allows private parties to bring lawsuits in the name of the federal government against defendants who allegedly “knowingly” present a false claim to the government for payment. The question for courts has been what standard should be applied to evaluate a defendant’s “knowledge.” The US Supreme Court recently clarified …
Continue reading “False Claims Act “Knowledge” Is a Subjective Standard”
Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40, No. 7 A recent decision by the Supreme Court clarified the required intent for a defendant to be held liable under the False Claims Act. According to the Court, the FCA’s scienter requirement refers to a defendant’s knowledge and subjective beliefs – not what an objectively reasonable person might have known …
Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40, No. 6 Introduction As the intersection of technology and healthcare becomes increasingly nuanced, the field of genomic medicine is rapidly evolving and expanding. Genomic medicine, or personalized medicine focusing on the data holding information on base sequence in an individual’s genome, uses an individual’s genetic information to guide healthcare …
Continue reading “Ensuring Data Privacy in Genomic Medicine: Legal Challenges and Opportunities”
Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40, No. 5 In prior articles in this publication, this author addressed a federal tax issue faced by practice entities- the possible attack by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on a common practice of incorporated medical and other types of practice groups. By use of the “zero out” technique to …
Continue reading “Care and Feeding of Practice Entities to Avoid Federal Tax Issues”
Reversing previously proposed rules, the DEA recently issued new guidance allowing the continued use of telehealth when prescribing controlled substances following the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency (“PHE”). Waivers of the requirement for in-person encounters that were in place during the PHE will remain in effect for practitioner-patient telehealth relationships established as of …
Continue reading “DEA Reverses Course and Extends Telehealth Prescriptions of Controlled Substances”
In a March 2023 ruling, a Texas federal district court vacated all actions taken by the Departments of Labor (“DOL”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) to implement or enforce certain preventive care requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Recently, the Departments released initial FAQ guidance addressing …