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, …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
Michigan Governor Rescinds Some and Extends Other Scope of Practice Rules
On July 13, 2020, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued Executive Order (“EO”) 2020-150, which renewed and, at the same time, rescinded different relief measures previously granted to health care professionals in Michigan during the COVID-19 state of emergency. On April 1, 2020, to increase access to care in response to COVID-19, the Governor issued EO …
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New CMS “Guidance” – Clear As Mud
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently issued new guidance for healthcare providers on documenting and reporting electronic clinical quality measures (“eCQMs”) for telehealth encounters. The new guidance was intended to provide clarity but may in fact lead to more confusion about what claims will be reimbursed if provided by telehealth methods as opposed …
Summary of Key Changes to Rules Implementing ACA Nondiscrimination Provisions
On June 19, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released its final rule[i] (the “Final Rule”) revising its enforcement of Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”).[ii] In this rule, HHS reversed many of the requirements of the prior rule issued in 2016 (the “2016 Rule”).[iii] For example, the Final Rule …
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