In response to the public health emergency declared in Florida on March 1, 2020, Florida loosened existing licensure and other telehealth requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as outlined below. However, unless specifically waived or relaxed by the Orders (as defined below), all current minimum practice requirements and standards of care for telehealth services … Continue Reading
Like many other states, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the guidance that the federal government has issued, Governor Pritzker of Illinois issued an executive order (2020-09) on March 19, 2020, amending and relaxing existing telehealth related requirements under 225 ILCS 60/49.5 regarding: (1) telemedicine services provided by licensed Illinois physicians; (2) telemedicine and … Continue Reading
Like many states, Florida requires consultant pharmacists to conduct on-site monthly visits to the facilities to which they provide pharmacy services. The visits are required for Modified Class IIB Pharmacy Permits, Special ALF Pharmacy Permits, and Special ESRD Pharmacy Permits. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, consultant pharmacists—particularly those visiting assisted living facilities—were concerned about off-site … Continue Reading
Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has created a great degree of liberalization in the telehealth requirements previously in place. What has not changed is the fact that telehealth services are governed by a number of different laws and regulations, all of which are constantly changing – now more than ever. In addition to the multiple changes at the federal … Continue Reading
Healthcare providers have special concerns for their employees during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global health pandemic. Because COVID-19 spreads primarily as a result of close exposure to an infected person, healthcare employees are at higher risk of infection. While OSHA has a standard to protect employees from the spread of bloodborne pathogens, it currently has no … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on February 27 that it has filed an administrative complaint challenging the proposed merger of Jefferson Health (Jefferson) and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network (Einstein), two Philadelphia-area hospital systems. The action is the FTC’s first hospital merger challenge since late 2016, when the agency successfully challenged the Hershey/Pinnacle Health transaction, … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission announced on February 11, 2020 that it had issued Special Orders to five large technology companies, requiring them to provide information to the FTC concerning all corporate acquisitions they have completed over the last ten years that had not previously been required to be submitted for review by the FTC under … Continue Reading
On January 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice (the OCR Notice) regarding individuals’ right of access to health records in response to a January 23, 2020 court ruling in the Ciox Health, LLC v. Azar, et al., No. 18-cv-0040 (D.D.C. Jan. 23, 2020) … Continue Reading
The terms of a settlement that resolved antitrust litigation between the State of California and Sutter Health, the largest health system in Northern California, have now become public, almost two months after the settlement put an end to the case. The settlement, which was inked only days before a trial in the case was set … Continue Reading
Computer hacking, and the permutation of crimes that can be committed by hackers, generally does not spur images of infliction of physical harm. However, in a chilling turn of events, computer hackers have opened a new front in the damage that can be inflicted through cybercrime. In a nefarious series of developments, cyber-liabilities now arise … Continue Reading
In May of 2018, the European Union enacted the General Data Protection Rules, or GDPR, a legal framework that outlines not only how companies may collect and process personal information of EU residents, but how that data is stored and used. Since its enactment, GDPR has triggered a global push towards compliance with those standards. … Continue Reading
The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal harmonized the interpretation of state statutory and constitutional language in the first post Amendment 7 case dealing with access to adverse medical incident reports and their use at trial. The Florida statutory prohibition against the use and admissibility of certain incident reports was postulated to conflict with the … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission has issued orders to five health insurers and two health systems requiring them to provide information that will assist the FTC in studying the competitive effects of certificates of public advantage (COPAs) with respect to prices, quality, access and innovation in healthcare. The orders were sent on October 21 to Aetna, … Continue Reading
To bill or not to bill, that is the question. Or, more appropriately, who to bill and when to bill, that is the question. Providers who bill patients under the circumstances described below may face liability. What is a provider to do? A patient was injured in the course of her employment in December 2013 … Continue Reading
We are all too aware of the horrors of the Parkland shooting. In response to that awful day, the Florida Legislature enacted Florida Statute Section 790.401 in 2018, “the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Safety Act.” Part of this new law is the “red flag” provision which allows courts to proactively remove firearms from individuals … Continue Reading
The latest HIPAA resolution agreement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a reminder that healthcare providers must take the high road when responding to unflattering online reviews by patients. While it is tempting to respond to a bad and perhaps untrue online review, healthcare providers need … Continue Reading
Last Thursday, September 5, 2019, Judge James Moody, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a positive ruling for hospitals dealing with patient safety organization (PSO) data. The opinion can be reviewed here. Note, while this decision is not binding on state courts, it is persuasive authority. It … Continue Reading
Concluding one of the longest merger reviews in history, on September 4, Judge Richard Leon, District Judge for the District of Columbia, issued his final ruling in United States v. CVS Health, approving the proposed settlement of the United States’ challenge to CVS’s merger with Aetna. The ruling concludes Judge Leon’s eleven month review of … Continue Reading
International export pharmacies took another step forward towards a separate, distinct licensure in Florida as the Florida Board of Pharmacy held a specially called Rules Sub-Committee Meeting on June 27, 2019, to address the Board’s responsibilities under House Bill 19, which went into effect on July 1, 2019. Section 465.0157, FS, establishes an “international export … Continue Reading
The Department of Justice announced on June 27, 2019 that David Brock Lovelace, the owner of DBL Management LLC, was found guilty by a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida of conspiracy to pay healthcare kickbacks and structuring currency transactions to avoid reporting requirements. According to the evidence … Continue Reading
Governor Desantis recently signed House Bill 831, which will require certain healthcare practitioners to “electronically transmit prescriptions”. Unfortunately, the legislature left this term undefined, creating some ambiguity as to what the law requires. While the legislature likely intended this law to require “electronic prescribing,” the statute does not say that, and therefore the term “electronically … Continue Reading
The Florida Legislature recently passed HB 369 (the Bill), which would tweak an important provision of the Florida Patient Brokering Act, Section 817.505 of the Florida Statutes (Patient Brokering Act). It seeks to clarify the exception to the Patient Brokering Act which incorporated by reference the criminal provisions of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (42 U.S.C. … Continue Reading
The Georgia Legislature recently passed House Bill 321 (the Act) adding a new code section (O.C.G.A. §31-7-22), which imposes significant financial and business transparency requirements on certain hospitals in Georgia, including non-profit hospitals. Beginning October 1, 2019, non-profit hospitals operating in Georgia will be required to post links in a prominent location on their homepages. … Continue Reading
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed the Federal Trade Commission another appellate victory in its efforts to curtail anticompetitive mergers in the healthcare industry, affirming the FTC’s earlier District Court victory in Federal Trade Commission v. Sanford Health. The decision follows a number of other recent FTC appellate victories in healthcare merger cases … Continue Reading
