Category: MVP
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FTC’s Non-Compete Ban Blocked by Federal Judge
By: H. Carlton Hilson, Amy Jordan Wilkes, and Gabriell Jeffreys, Burr & Forman LLC On August 20, 2024, a federal judge in Texas blocked a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) final rule from taking effect that would effectively ban most employee non-compete agreements. The rule, which was set to take effect on September 4, 2024, would…
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What’s Behind the Curtain? Federal Agencies Seek Transparency Regarding Health Provider Ownership
By: Jessie L. Bekker, Burr & Forman LLP Market analysts reported a decline in mergers & acquisitions in the health care industry in2023 as compared to pre-pandemic trends—a perhaps unsurprising development amid 7% orhigher interest rates. The federal government, however, is now taking notice of who’s behind theongoing trend toward health care consolidation. On March…
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New OIG Advisory Opinion Reinforces OIG’s Stance Against Turnkey Contractual Joint Ventures
By: Jessie Bekker, Burr & Forman LLP The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has issued a new opinion with a familiar message cautioning providers against entering into suspect contractual joint ventures. The OIG’s latest Advisory Opinion examined the Anti-Kickback Statute’s application to an arrangement related to the provision of intraoperative neuromonitoring (“IONM”) services (the “Proposed…
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NEW STATE OF EMERGENCY PROVIDES HEALTHCARE PROVIDER FLEXIBILITIES
By Angie Cameron Smith with Burr & Forman, LLP On July 6, 2021 Governor Kay Ivey allowed the State of Emergency in Alabama to expire. She had previously proclaimed a State of Emergency due to the COVID-19 Pandemic effective March 13, 2020. Along with that proclamation, came the invocation of Alabama’s Emergency Management Act. When…
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Training, Training, Training—The First Line of Defense When it Comes to HIPAA Compliance
By: Kelli Carpenter Fleming with Burr Forman When it comes to HIPAA compliance efforts, the first line of defense in ensuring that protected health information is secured appropriately and compliantly is training your practice’s employees. More often than not, when an inappropriate use or disclosure of protected health information occurs, it is because an employee…
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OSHA Issues COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for the Healthcare Industry
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for the healthcare industry on June 21, 2021.[1] The Occupational Safety and Health Act (“the Act”) passed in 1970 and created OSHA to administer the Act. It has been thirty-eight years since OSHA issued its last ETS. That ETS was issued in…
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Payor Auditing Activities
By: Kelli Carpenter Fleming During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) suspended certain payor audit and oversight activities. However, now that communities are beginning to reopen, so are the audit activities. CMS and other third-party payors are increasing their audit activities, including claims filed during the public…
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No Honor Among Thieves
Most Americans will likely never forget where they were in March of 2020 when the world seemingly shut down. While many used that time to reflect, enjoyed down time with family or even binge watched streaming services, health care workers geared up to save the lives of people impacted by COVID-19. The novelty of this…
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Potential HIPAA Changes That Would Allow Healthcare Providers to Disclose Phi and Better Protect Patients
by Lindsey Phillips, Burr & Forman On December 10, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced proposed changes to the regulations implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). The proposed changes, which are set out in the Notice of…
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Physician Recruitment Agreements – What You Need to Know
by Howard E. Bogard Both the federal Anti-kickback Statute and the Stark Law allow a hospital to provide certain financial assistance to aid a medical practice in its efforts to recruit and hire a new physician. Financial assistance can take many forms, including a collection guarantee, net income guarantee and/or payments with respect to a…