On October 22, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it has issued guidance requiring states to cover COVID-19 treatment without cost sharing for people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), supported by the American Rescue Plan. This coverage includes treatments and ...
By: Alexa J. Elder
On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) expanded its technical assistance document to address questions regarding COVID-19 vaccine work-mandates and Title VII religious exemptions. Title VII protects employees from religious discrimination and requires employers to accommodate ...
On October 20, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its amended emergency use authorizations (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines. The new authorization permits single booster doses of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine that may be administered at least 6 months after completion of the primary series to individuals 65 years of age and ...
The Provider Relief Fund (PRF) portal currently operates under a public health emergency waiver approved by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) wants to continue collecting information from providers on relief fund spending through the PRF portal, even ...
By: Marianna J. Michael
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States, like other countries, banned travel from certain regions due to rapidly rising infection rates. Under the travel ban, travelers who had been in Brazil, China, the European Schengen countries, India, Iran, Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom at any ...
UnitedHealth Group has until Nov. 5 to provide the Senate Aging Committee with answers on who and how much it owes to providers after federal investigators confirmed it paid “’millions’ of provider bills 40% less than the Medicare rate for inoculating patients.” According to a Modern Healthcare report, UnitedHealth Group stated that ...
On October 8th, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a Spanish version of its QuestionBuilder app in order to improve health care access and equity for Latinos. The app will help Latino patients who struggle to communicate with their providers due to language barriers prepare for their in-person or telehealth ...
The Kentucky Rural Hospital Loan Program, launched in 2020, is making $20 million in low-interest loans available to rural hospitals across the Commonwealth. Any hospital located within a Kentucky county with a population of less than 50,000 is eligible to apply. To qualify, the hospital must request funds to maintain or upgrade existing ...
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is pursuing entities that do not comply with Provider Relief Fund (PRF) terms and conditions, which includes a certification that the provider is not excluded or has its billing privileges suspended. According to a Report on Medicare Compliance article
By: Michelle D. Wyrick
In Beckerich v. St. Elizabeth Medical Center, No. 21-105-DLB-EBA (E.D. Ky. Sept. 24, 2021), Judge David Bunning refused to enjoin an employer’s mandatory vaccination policy. Under the employer’s vaccination policy, employees were required to get a COVID-19 vaccination unless they submitted a request for an ...
By: Margaret Young Levi
On September 30, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued welcome guidance concerning when the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) applies to disclosures and requests for information about whether a person has received a COVID-19 vaccine—and when it does not apply.
The ...
By: Matt Lubozynski
Recently, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia decided whether the Patent Act requires that an inventor be a human being versus artificial intelligence in order to be granted a patent. See Thaler v. Hirshfeld, No. 1:20-cv-903 (LMB/TCB), 2021 EL 3934802 (E.D. Va. Sept. 2, 2021). Under the ...
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that effective September 20, 2021, it will allow Medicare-enrolled immunizers, including pharmacies, to bill directly and receive direct reimbursement from the Medicare program for vaccinating Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents. Social Security Act §§ ...
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved $41 million in a second round of funding for telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program reimburses health-care workers providing telecommunication ...
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled that employees at Kentucky’s Saint Elizabeth Medical Center Inc. must comply with the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate while its legality is being debated. The Court denied the employee’s motion for a temporary restraining order, saying that employees are not likely ...
Large healthcare systems that serve rural patients, not just providers located in rural areas, are eligible for a piece of the $8.5 billion in COVID-19 stimulus funding set aside for rural grants that the Health and Human Services Department announced it was distributing under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) earlier this month. Eligibility for ...
The FDA Clearance and Recommendations. On September 22, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer Inc.-BioNtech COVID-19 Vaccine to allow single booster doses to be administered to individuals 65 and older or those adults age 18 through 64 at a higher risk of severe COVID-19. This ...