Practice Areas
Industries
Health
-
May 25, 2012
HealthCor Wins Quick Hearing In Allscripts Proxy Fight Case
HealthCor Management LP has won expedited review of its lawsuit seeking to force a proxy fight with Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., the hedge fund said Friday, ensuring the case will heard before the electronic health records company's annual meeting.
-
May 25, 2012
Doctors Groups Seek To School House On Medicare Pay Fix
The current Medicare physician payment system, which both political parties want to permanently repeal, should be replaced by some of the same innovative payment systems currently being tested under the health care law, several powerful doctors' groups told the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday.
-
May 25, 2012
Illinois Assembly Approves $1.6B Medicaid Cut
Both houses of the Illinois General Assembly passed a Medicaid reform bill Thursday that slashes $1.6 billion from the program in an effort to help the state’s flailing budget and includes cuts to hospitals, other Medicaid providers and programs that lower the cost of prescription drugs.
-
May 25, 2012
DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional In Calif. Same-Sex Benefits Suit
The Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex spouses by denying them long-term care insurance through a California public-employee pension program, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a class action challenging the policy.
-
May 25, 2012
NY Grand Jury Pins Pain Pill Abuse On Drugmakers, Doctors
A Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury released a scathing report Thursday blaming the marketing push of drugmakers and the prescription habits of doctors for a national painkiller abuse epidemic, calling for a federal and state regulatory overhaul to combat the problem.
-
May 25, 2012
Cantor Wants June House Vote On Health Accounts OTC Ban
The U.S. House of Representatives' No. 2 Republican wants the GOP-controlled chamber to vote on repealing the ban on using tax-exempt medical savings accounts to buy over-the-counter medications, mandated by the health care reform law, as early as the first week in June, according to a Friday memo.
-
May 25, 2012
Q&A With Drinker Biddle's Doug Swill
The U.S. Supreme Court case addressing the constitutionality of certain parts of the federal health reform law will have great significance to the health care industry either way, as reform needs to occur at both the federal level in terms of Medicare and Medicaid, and at the state level, says Douglas Swill, chairman of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP's health care practice group.
-
May 25, 2012
Texas Duo Indicted In $19M Medicare, Medicaid Fraud
Federal prosecutors said Thursday they've indicted two Houston-area men suspected of orchestrating a $19 million Medicare and Medicaid scam made possible through kickbacks to patient recruiters and a laundry list of medically unnecessary procedures.
-
May 25, 2012
Dental Center Manager Gets Green Light For Sale To Lenders
A Tennessee bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a credit bid to sell dental center manager Church Street Health Management LLC to a group of its lenders for $25 million plus their debt, just a few months after fallout from Medicaid fraud claims pushed the company into bankruptcy.
-
May 24, 2012
CMS Failed To Recoup Medicare Overpayments, Audit Says
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services failed in recent years to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments, but the shortcomings might largely result from legislative factors outside the agency's control, according to a government audit released Thursday.
-
May 24, 2012
$55M Suit Claims Blue Cross Shorted Texas Hospitals
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Inc. withheld payments for health services after claiming they would be covered, two hospitals allege in a suit seeking at least $55 million in damages that was removed to Texas federal court Wednesday.
-
May 24, 2012
Pom Strikes Back With Ad Campaign In FTC Health Claim Row
Pom Wonderful LLC said Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission had publicly “oversimplified” a judge's ruling on whether the juice maker's advertising claims had been misleading, and said it was launching a major ad campaign to show it.
-
May 24, 2012
Stericycle Must Shed Recently Bought Rival, UK Regulator Says
The U.K.'s antitrust appeals body on Thursday upheld a ruling that required Stericycle Inc. to sell off its recently acquired medical waste management company Ecowaste Southwest Ltd. in order to preserve competition.
-
May 24, 2012
Nossaman Snags Real Estate Partner For LA Office
Nossaman LLP has snapped up a former Silver & Freedman real estate and health care industry attorney with expertise in property transactions for its Los Angeles office, the firm said Thursday.
-
May 24, 2012
Judge Refuses To Let Insurer Exit FTC Health Marketing Suit
A federal judge on Wednesday declined to dismiss claims made by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Co. and executives from health care nonprofit Consumer Health Benefits Association for deceptive marketing of a medical discount plan.
-
May 24, 2012
Ventas, Kindred Strike Lease Deal Worth At Least $280M
Chicago-based health care real estate investment trust Ventas Inc. has entered into new lease agreements that will allow Kindred Healthcare Inc. to remain the tenant at 10 Ventas-owned hospitals for $28 million a year for 10 years, the REIT said Thursday.
-
May 24, 2012
Solo Insurance Plans Fail To Meet PPACA Standards, Study Says
A majority of individual health care plans charge consumers rates that would disqualify them from being sold on new insurance exchanges being created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a study published Wednesday.
-
May 24, 2012
FCC Dedicates Spectrum For Wireless Medical Devices
In a move expected to save money and lives, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Thursday to pull the plug on outdated technology in health care, dedicating spectrum to wireless systems capable of remotely monitoring patients.
-
May 24, 2012
Q&A With Foley & Lardner's Lawrence Vernaglia
I've seen an increasing "meanness" in the enforcement mechanisms in health care. Providers are not the enemy of the governmental or private health care plans -- they are partners. Meaningful reform would restore some balance to the enforcement mechanisms, says Lawrence Vernaglia, chairman of Foley & Lardner LLP's health care industry team.
-
May 23, 2012
High Court Asked To Nix FTC Protest To Ga. Hospital Merger
Phoebe Putney Health System Inc. fired back Friday at the Federal Trade Commission's bid to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear a dispute over its $195 million merger with Palmyra Park Hospital Inc., arguing that circuit courts aren't split over how to apply the exemption that shielded the deal from antitrust scrutiny.
Expert Analysis
-
Expanding False Claims Liability In Ga.
The recently enacted Georgia Taxpayer Protection False Claims Act broadens liability for state false claims in order to reach non-Medicaid claims. In several substantive areas, Georgia’s Medicaid and non-Medicaid FCAs differ on key elements related to a state false claims civil action, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
-
Best Practices For Corporate Social Responsibility
As with many industries, the legal services industry has adapted to the demand for sustainability practices. An effective Corporate Social Responsibility program will manifest itself in all strategic planning, from best firm employee practices and environmental sustainability to providing legal services, recruiting and retention of employees, business development, marketing and philanthropy, says Howard Dakoff of Levenfeld Pearlstein LLC.
-
Sellers Prepare: Health Care Due Diligence
Health care transactions present unique due diligence challenges. The seller that sets up an organized, indexed due diligence data room — preferably electronic — will be more attractive to potential buyers, say Deborah Daccord and Pamela Kramer of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.
-
When HIPAA Is Not Enough: Tougher Texas Privacy Laws
New privacy requirements that are more stringent than the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have entered into force in Texas. These changes are likely to have significant reach, impacting not only HIPAA-covered entities, but also governmental entities, schools and universities, and other entities in Texas that process protected health information, say attorneys with Goodwin Procter LLP.
-
Document Review Considerations
An e-discovery review usually requires significant manpower and a certain level of expertise to be done properly, and many in-house legal departments turn to litigation support and discovery management providers as an alternative for first-pass document review. Regardless of who performs it, proper preparation and planning in advance of a review is the key to its success, says Stacy Jackson of IE Discovery.
-
Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.
-
FCA Cases May Be Lurking Within CMS Refund Obligation
The U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published a proposed rule implementing a section of the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act that requires providers to report and repay Medicare and Medicaid overpayments within a set period. As-is, the CMS proposal leaves open a maze of questions that affect False Claims Act liability, say Robert Hauberg and Jonell Beeler of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.
-
Helpful Health Care Guidance From Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court recently issued two opinions that advance our understanding of important concepts, including a public hospital’s obligation to release internal audit reports pursuant to open records requests, and the standard of care applicable to a hospital board of directors in fulfilling its credentialing function, say William Miller and Alissa Smith of Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
-
The Costs Of A Potential Blue Cross Conspiracy
Two recent lawsuits allege that Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association entities in North Carolina and Alabama have violated federal and state antitrust laws by engaging in concerted action with other BCBS plans nationwide. If the plaintiffs’ allegations of market allocation are true, the cases may have significant implications for providers, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
-
DEA Checkup — Controlled Substance Prescriptions
Physicians are constantly warned about being on the lookout for prescription abuse. Unfortunately, this isn’t just a medical diagnosis issue. Physicians are facing increased scrutiny from state licensing and prosecutorial agencies and federal payors. Now an even bigger and less understanding player is entering the field — the Drug Enforcement Administration, says Dennis Lee of Fenton Nelson LLP.