Legal and practical healthcare information.
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. 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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Michigan Medical Spas: Is the Wild West No More?”
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 …
Continue reading “Immigration Healthcare Cures for Physicians – A Quixotic Venture?”
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 …
Continue reading “Recent Guidance on Enforceability of Physician Non-Competes”
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 …
Continue reading “A Call for Rational Immigration Reforms to Address Critical Healthcare Shortages”
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 …
Continue reading “Update to the ALJ Backlog for Medicare Appeals”
On December 2, 2020, the CMS and the OIG published the rules modifying the safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback Statute[1] and exceptions under the Stark Law[2]. This article presents an overview of the value-based rules, which became effective on January 19, 2021. CMS and OIG coordinated many aspects of the value-based rules, and this section …
Continue reading “The Regulatory Sprint to Value-Based Care”
Some areas of the law are black and white. In those cases, contractual provisions can often be easily labeled as permissible or impermissible, allowed or not allowed, reasonable or unreasonable. The enforceability of a provision prohibiting an employer from working in a competing business following their employment (a noncompetition provision) is not one of those …
Continue reading “Enforceability of Physician Noncompetition Agreements in Michigan”
Healthcare providers have additional regulatory restrictions related to the structure of their practice entities (“Practice Entities”), which are not applicable to those operating in other industries. Such restrictions include but are not limited to ownership and control by licensed professionals and limitations on the number of Practice Entities that a licensed professional may own or …
Continue reading “Regulatory Considerations for the Structure of Practice Entities”