Contact Us
Subscribe to this blog via RSS
Join us on LinkedInCategories
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- House Bill 333
- Senate Bill 79
- locum tenens
- Senate Bill 4
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- Hospice
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- EHR Systems
- ICD-10
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Drug Screening
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- Urinalysis
- Mental Health Care
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- KASPER
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Stark Laws
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Qui Tam
- Compliance
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- HPSA
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Pharmacists
- Physician Assistants
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fee for Service
- Part D
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Telehealth
- Affordable Care Act
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Data Breach
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- Hospitals
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- Alternative Payment Models
- Charitable Hospitals
- HRSA
- Limited Services Clinics
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- Hydrocodone
- APRNs
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Webinar
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Maintenance Standard
- Overpayments
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- Agreed Order
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- Chiropractic services
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Enrollment
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Ophthalmological services
- Physician Compare website
- Re-validation
- Texting
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Compliance Officer
- Essential Health Benefits
- ICD-9
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- Appeal
- Chronic Care Management
- Compounding
- CPR
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- House Bill 3204
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Long-term care communities
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Outsourcing facility
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Denied Claims
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Grace Period
- HealthCare.gov
- Individual mandate
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kynect
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- NADSA Conference
- National Institutes of Health
- Physician Payments
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- State Health Plan
- UPS
- Affinity Health Plan
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Form 4720
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- Hospitalists
- Inpatient Care
- Licensure Requirements
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Personal Service Entities
- Quality reporting
- Upcoding
- “Superuser”
- "Plan of Correction"
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- EHR vendor
- Employer Mandate
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- LLC v. Sutter
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Network provider agreement
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Payors
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Call Coverage
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- Employer Group Health Plans
- ERISA
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Reform
- House Bill 104
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Patient Privacy
- Personal Health Information
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Autism/ASD
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Patient Autonomy
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Compliance Programs
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Center for Disease Control
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- Sunshine Act
- Abuse and Waste
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Pain Management Facilities
- Employee Agreement
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
- Health Care Law
McBrayer Blogs
Showing 8 posts from May 2015.
Issues Concerning Substance Abuse Patient Confidentiality Laws
It was with the best of intentions that Congress passed the Federal Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records Law over forty years ago. The patient privacy regulations (“Part 2”) spawned by this law reflected a sensitivity to the stigma that can accompany substance abuse, preventing highly vulnerable patients in need from seeking appropriate treatment.[1] In the interim, however, the field of behavioral health care has experienced seismic shifts in coordinated patient care while the regulations concerning these patient records have failed to adapt to changing standards such as electronic health records or health information exchanges. Due to this inflexibility, providers and patients are now facing a host of impediments in the provision of behavioral healthcare. More >
Time to Exclude the IMD Exclusion
Some rules are borne out of the best of intentions, and the Institutions for Mental Disease Exclusion (“IMD exclusion”) bears the hallmarks of such a beginning. The IMD exclusion bars federal funding for care of patients between the ages of 21 and 65 who receive inpatient treatment in an IMD, a hospital, nursing facility or other institution with more than 16 beds that primarily treats those with mental illness. This provision came into being in 1965, primarily as a way to prevent dubious institutions from stocking up on mentally ill patients for the purposes of collecting federal funds en masse, but also to put the onus on states, rather than the federal government, to care for the mentally ill. More >
What a PA Should Know When Searching for a Supervising Physician
Although supervising physicians are required to follow regulatory guidelines, it is also important that physician assistants (“PAs”) understand their role in the authority delegated to them and the specifics of regulatory compliance for supervision. More >
What Physicians Should Know About New Kentucky Law Regarding Physician Assistants
During the 2015 legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly, HB 258, was approved by lawmakers and signed by Governor Beshear. This legislation amends KRS 311.854 to allow a physician to supervise up to four physician assistants (“PAs”) at the same time. This amended regulation goes into effect on June 24, 2015. More >
FDA Issues Guidance for Mobile Medical Apps
Just so you know, that iPhone or iPad you have with you may be an FDA-regulated medical device. More precisely, the apps on the device may meet the definition of a medical device under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FD&C Act”).[1] In February of this year, the FDA released a revised set of guidance concerning how it will apply regulatory oversight to mobile apps, addressing the growing number and potential uses of these apps as they proliferate alongside rapidly changing mobile technology. More >
OIG Guidance for Healthcare Boards
In April, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“OIG”), in conjunction with the American Health Lawyers Association, the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors, and the Health Care Compliance Association, released “Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight.” Rather than merely discussing aspirational goals or stating governing principles, the guide lives up to its name in giving practical suggestions for how health care governing boards oversee compliance programs, a true product of a partnership between the OIG and associations that represent those regulated by the office. The document stressed new compliance challenges for healthcare governing boards, such as value-based payment systems and the effect of ever-expanding publicly available data (under the Sunshine Rule, for instance). The guidance covered specific topic areas of concern, each of which will be discussed briefly. More >
Wellness Programs and the EEOC, Part Two
Tuesday’s post discussed recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) litigation concerning employer-sponsored wellness programs. Today’s discussion turns toward further guidance recently issued by the EEOC to assist employers in ensuring that their wellness plans are compliant with federal law. More >
Wellness Programs and the EEOC, Part One
On May 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services finalized rules regarding wellness programs offered in conjunction with group health plans. These changes were made in light of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Prior to the enactment of the ACA, HIPAA provisions generally prohibited group health plans and group health insurance issuers from discriminating against individual participants and beneficiaries in eligibility, benefits, or premiums based on a health factor. The exception to the general rule allows premium discounts, rebates, or modifications to otherwise applicable cost-sharing systems (including copayments, deductibles, or coinsurance) in return for adherence to certain programs promoting health or preventing disease. More >
