The Regulatory Sprint to Value-Based Care

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 …

Nevada Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Dickinson Wright Client, Applying the “Savings Clause” in Enforcing Non-Competition Agreements

Many practitioners in Nevada had been operating under the assumption that the Nevada Supreme Court’s 2016 opinion in Golden Road Motor Inn, Inc. v. Islam, 132 Nev. 476, 376 P.3d 151 (2016) automatically rendered void and unsalvageable any non-competition agreement entered into prior to the enactment of NRS 613.195(5)[1] in June 2017 that contained a …

The Regulatory Sprint to Value-Based Care: The New Safe Harbors and Stark Exceptions

On November 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) finalized the rules modifying the safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback Statute and exceptions under the Stark Law. These new rules take effect as of January 19, 2021. Due to their complexity, this article will focus …

EEOC Confirms Employers Can Mandate Employees Have the COVID-19 Vaccine…With Restrictions

With the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine for mass consumption, we hypothesized in our piece titled “Can Employers Make Employees Get the COVID-19 Vaccine,” that employers would be able to require employees to get the vaccine subject to limited restrictions. We further noted that our guess was based on the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) …

New Safe Harbors for Telehealth

New and modified safe harbors to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback statue allow healthcare providers and entities more flexibility to create and expand telehealth platforms in compliant fashion. On November 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) finalized the rules modifying the safe harbors …

Can Employers Make Employees Get the COVID-19 Vaccine?

With two COVID-19 vaccines set to receive federal approval in the United States in the upcoming weeks, the next question is whether employers can make employees receive the vaccine. The short answer is…yes. And while the typical lawyer answer to any question is “it depends,” that concise “yes” does come with a few caveats. So, …

Enforceability of Physician Noncompetition Agreements in Michigan

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 …

Regulatory Considerations for the Structure of Practice Entities

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 …

The OIG’s FAQs Related to COVID-19

The  Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) for the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has developed a process for interested parties to obtain regulatory compliance guidance from the OIG prior to pursuing  arrangements related to COVID-19. The OIG has dubbed this process FAQs–Application of OIG’s Administrative Enforcement Authorities to Arrangements Directly Connected to the Coronavirus Disease …

DICKINSON WRIGHT’S HEALTH CARE PRACTICE GROUP ANNOUNCES CREATION OF ITS HEALTH CARE LITIGATION TASK FORCE

Dickinson Wright’s Health Care Practice group announces the creation of its Health Care Litigation Task Force. Our Health Care Practice Group is diverse in its representation of clients operating in the health care industry. While a traditional litigation attorney can handle routine matters, when facing complex health care litigation matters you need an attorney who …