Health Care

For the last six years, Republicans have talked about repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. The election outcome now puts Republicans in a position of authority to take action on the Affordable Care Act.  As we look ahead to the 115th Congress, it is important to move away from political rhetoric and consider what can actually be achieved as a matter of public policy.

Last week, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued another round of proposed amendments to its regulations, continuing the Baker Administration’s regulatory reform efforts. Today, we take a closer look at the proposed amendments to the proposed regulations governing the licensure of hospice programs.

Today, our colleagues at ML Strategies released their first look at what the results of Tuesday's election mean for health care. The client alert addresses both the lame duck session and what to expect in 2017 and beyond.

At yesterday's Public Health Council meeting, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) released yet another round of proposed regulatory amendments. On deck were regulations concerning Long Term Care Facilities, Hospice Programs, and Temporary Nursing Service Agencies, as well as requirements for Training of Nurses’ Aides in Long-Term Care Facilities.

Last week, CMS released a Fact Sheet announcing that it is further delaying enforcement of the Medicare Part D Prescriber Enrollment Requirements, with full enforcement to begin on January 1, 2019.

Based on recent FDA statements, it looks as though the FDA would like to integrate hospital medical device reporting obligations into the National Evaluation System for health Technology (NEST) framework.

Continuing our current coverage of health policy issues and trends, Mintz Levin's Health Law Practice and ML Strategies have issued a joint Alert regarding the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s Annual Cost Trends Hearings.

The waiver of copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles owed by patients treated by out-of-network laboratories and other providers is a hot topic in the health care industry.

Pharmaceutical industry enforcement has been one of the hottest topics in the news in the past month. Last week, Ellyn Sternfield and Rodney Whitlock were quoted by cnbc.com regarding the recent Mylan settlement.

If you missed the Mintz Levin Privacy and Security Practice Webinar last week, you can still get it! The current Privacy Webinar Series is focusing on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will impact how US businesses handle and process personal data from the EU, including possible changes to business processes.

In previous blog posts, we addressed the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH) proposed regulations that affect hospitals, dialysis clinics and medical marijuana programs. In this final post on DPH’s recent regulatory review and overhaul, we address the proposed amendments to the clinic licensure regulations.

On October 7, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published guidance to assist cloud service providers (CSPs) and their customers with HIPAA compliance.

On October 14, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

On October 14, 2016, FDA released draft guidance entitled Software as a Medical Device (SaMD): Clinical Evaluation (the "SaMD Draft Guidance"). The draft guidance was prepared by the SaMD Working Group of the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF), chaired by Bakul Patel, Associate Director for Digital Health at CDRH, and was endorsed by the IMDRF Management Committee in September 2016.

Our eyebrows were raised by Mylan’s October 7, 2016 announcement that it had reached a $465 million “settlement” with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and “other government agencies” over its Medicaid Drug Rebate obligations for EpiPen. 

Earlier this week my colleagues, Bruce Sokler and Farrah Short published an alert detailing the FTC's creative solution to permit a presumptively anticompetitive merger for a financially failing medical practice.

Just last month the “Improving Transparency and Accuracy in Medicare Part D Spending Act” was introduced in the Senate to amend the Social Security Act. The bill seeks to prohibit Part D plans (and their contracted pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)) from retroactively reducing payments to pharmacies for clean claims.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its final rule overhauling long-term care (LTC) facility participation requirements for Medicare and Medicaid (“Final Rule”).

Please join Mintz Levin for a webinar discussing health care fraud enforcement in the pharmacy and pharmaceutical industry on October 26, 2016 at 1 pm (ET). My colleagues Theresa Carnegie, Larry Freedman, and Ellyn Sternfield, members of Mintz Levin’s Health Law and Health Care Enforcement Defense practices, will discuss enforcement trends facing the industry.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has released for public comment proposed amendments to DPH’s Medical Marijuana Regulations (105 CMR 725) (the “regulations”).