On November 2, 2017, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” was introduced in the House of Representatives. This act has immediate and far-reaching implications for tax-exempt finance. Among other things, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would: Repeal the authority to issue “qualified private activity bonds” after December 31, 2017. These bonds generally include all…… Continue reading this entry
For the second year in a row, Foley & Lardner LLP was named the Outstanding Committee Sponsor of the Year Award by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for Foley’s work on behalf of the ACC’s national Health Law Committee. Attorneys Alan Einhorn and Jana Anderson, Foley’s liaisons to the Health Law Committee, were presented…… Continue reading this entry
In some states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “site neutrality” for outpatient hospital reimbursement is factoring into state-specific health reform and cost containment initiatives. This potentially goes well-beyond Medicare’s limitation of reimbursement at new off-campus outpatient hospital departments under Section 603 of the Bi-partisan Budget Act of 2015. Since Massachusetts’ state health reform law was…… Continue reading this entry
Telemedicine rules in the District of Columbia underwent a second round of revisions as the District of Columbia Department of Health issued a new set of proposed rules . The newly-revised proposed telemedicine rules, issued in July, replace the Department’s first draft of telemedicine regulations issued in early 2016, and incorporate comments submitted by a number…… Continue reading this entry
The Ohio Medical Board just published new FAQs and guidance on practicing via telemedicine, addressed to Ohio physicians and physician assistants. The FAQs follow the Ohio rules for telemedicine prescribing of drugs and controlled substances adopted by the Board in March 2017. The guidance should be welcome news to providers who deliver healthcare services via…… Continue reading this entry
Telehealth services are now required to be covered by health plans in the Cornhusker State. Nebraska telemedicine providers, entrepreneurs, and patients can enjoy telehealth insurance coverage, joining the national majority. Championed earlier this year by Nebraska Senator Mark Kolterman (R) as LB92 and signed by Governor Pete Ricketts (R) in late April, the new law…… Continue reading this entry
Efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with the Graham-Cassidy legislation were unsuccessful as lawmakers rushed to meet the September 30th deadline when the Senate would have lost its current reconciliation vehicle. Changes to the bill were incorporated in order to gain Republican support from a number of holdouts, but with Senator Susan Collins…… Continue reading this entry
The Joint Commission has proposed changes to its accreditation standards to account for direct-to-patient telehealth services. The new standards will apply to Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and ambulatory health care organizations offering direct-to-patient telehealth services. Accredited hospitals and organizations, as well as entrepreneurial telemedicine companies that contract with such hospitals, should be mindful of these proposed…… Continue reading this entry
As readers of Health Care Law Today, we would very much value your feedback to our Telemedicine & Digital Health Survey. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and individual survey responses will be kept confidential. To participate, click here or paste the following link into a web browser: https://research.zarca.com/r/dhif3e In…… Continue reading this entry
Telehealth providers can celebrate another successful year of growth, as CMS reported a 28% increase over total 2016 payments for telehealth services under the Medicare program. Providers continue to successfully integrate telehealth services into their traditional health care delivery approaches, and are realizing payment opportunities both within the Medicare FFS program and in other sources…… Continue reading this entry