Joseph Rugg's Health Law Blog

As healthcare providers and their lawyers know, things happen fast in healthcare.  Business deals, enforcement activity, new inventions and discoveries.

Here are a few headlines from last week in no particular order:

• OIG Mid-Year 2015 Work Plan Mid-Year Update — The OIG published its 86 page mid-year update to its 2015 Work Plan. “This edition of the Work Plan, effective as of May 2015, describes OIG audits, evaluations, and certain legal and investigative initiatives that are ongoing. In response to adjustments made to our Work Plan, this mid-year update removes items that have been completed, postponed, or canceled and includes new items that have been started since October 2014. The word “new” before a project title indicates that the project did not appear in the previous Work Plan. For each project, we include the subject, primary objective, and criteria related to the topic. At the end of each description, we provide the internal identification code for the review (if a number has been assigned) and the year in which we expect one or more reports to be issued as a result of the review. This edition also forecasts areas for which OIG anticipates planning and/or beginning work in the upcoming fiscal year and beyond. Typically, these broader areas of focus are based on the results of OIG’s risk assessments and have been identified as significant management and performance challenges facing HHS. In FY 2015 and beyond, we will continue to focus on emerging payment, eligibility, management, and information technology systems security vulnerabilities in health care reform programs, such as the health insurance marketplaces. OIG plans to add to its portfolio of work on care quality and access in Medicare and Medicaid, as well as on public health and human services programs. OIG’s examination of the appropriateness of Medicare and Medicaid payments will continue, with possible additional work on the efficiency and effectiveness of payment policies and practices in inpatient and outpatient settings, for prescription drugs, and in managed care. Other areas under consideration for new work include, for example, the integrity of the food, drug, and medical device supply chains; the security of electronic data; the use and exchange of health information technology; and emergency preparedness and response efforts.”
• CMS Proposes New Rule for Medicaid Managed Care — “This proposed rule would modernize the Medicaid managed care regulations to reflect changes in the usage of managed care delivery systems. The proposed rule would align the rules governing Medicaid managed care with those of other major sources of coverage, including coverage through Qualified Health Plans and Medicare Advantage plans; implement statutory provisions; strengthen actuarial soundness payment provisions to promote the accountability of Medicaid managed care program rates; and promote the quality of care and strengthen efforts to reform delivery systems that serve Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. It would also ensure appropriate beneficiary protections and enhance policies related to program integrity. This proposed rule would also require states to establish comprehensive quality strategies for their Medicaid and CHIP programs regardless of how services are provided to beneficiaries. This proposed rule would also implement provisions of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) and addresses third party liability for trauma codes.”
• Florida Senate Tweaks Health Exchange Plan For Fast Action — “The new Senate plan would jettison an initial proposal to expand Medicaid this summer, but instead would still rely on federal money linked to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Low-income Floridians would be eligible to purchase coverage through a new state-run exchange, but they would have to pay premiums and they would be required to work. The new health coverage plan would require federal approval and would not kick in until January.  It would also allow consumers who are currently getting insurance through the federal exchange to continue doing so instead being bumped to an expanded Medicaid program — something the House criticized in the initial proposal.”
• New York Assembly Passes Universal Health Care Bill — The New York Assembly passed the New York Health Act, which is seen largely as a symbolic gesture and not likely to be passed by the Republican New York Senate.  The bill’s Economic Analysis stated “This report analyzes the economic effects of the New York Health Act …, which would establish a comprehensive, universal health insurance program for all New Yorkers. The Act would replace the current multi-payer system of employer-based insurance, individually acquired insurance, and federally sponsored programs (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid) with a single billing pipeline funded by broad-based progressively graduated assessments collected by the State and based on income and ability to pay, thereby reducing administrative bloat and monopolistic pricing and dramatically reducing the cost of health care to New Yorkers even while extending and improving the provision of care.”
• 21st Century Cures Act: A Call to Action — “The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved the 21st Century Cures Act with a vote of 51-0. The nonpartisan legislation will help to modernize and personalize health care, encourage greater innovation, support research, and streamline the system to deliver better, faster cures to more patients.”
• FTC Commissioner Calls For War On Hospital Construction Laws — Law360 reported yesterday that “Federal Trade Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen on Friday urged the antitrust agency to put pressure on state legislatures around the country to scrap laws requiring state approval for the construction of new hospitals, saying the laws are ‘anti-competitive’ in nature and create barriers for new market entrants.”
• Two Cardiologists To Pay Over $3.6 Million For Fraud — “Jasjit Walia and Preet Randhawa and their New Jersey-based cardiology practice Garden State Cardiovascular Specialists will pay the amount to resolve allegations that they submitted claims to federal insurance program Medicare for various cardiology diagnostic tests and procedures. The tests included stress tests, cardiac catheterizations and external counterpulsation, which were not medically necessary, US Attorney Paul Fishman for the District of New Jersey said.”
• Florida’s Medical Marijuana Rules Upheld — “Florida Administrative Hearings Judge David Watkins rejected claims by an Orange County nursery that the state’s proposed rules and regulations were unfairly developed to give advantage to bigger, politically connected nurseries to win the five regional medical-marijuana-growing licenses the law allows. … Florida may now start creating a statewide medical-marijuana program that so far has only been proposed. The program, as written, allows five companies to grow low-THC marijuana, extract an oil and sell it as medicine for people who suffer from intractable epilepsy and several other debilitating conditions.”