As the number of COVID-19 cases starts to decline, a number of facilities are preparing to resume elective surgical care. The recently issued guidelines outlined below were created by the American College of Surgeons (ACOS) to help facilities safely plan for resumption of elective surgery. There are 10 distinct issues…
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will distribute $100 billion to healthcare providers, including hospitals, battling the COVID-19 pandemic. HHS will be allocating portions of this $100 billion to different areas of the healthcare arena. Below provides an overview of these allocations. GENERAL ALLOCATIONS Half…
On April 15, 2020, the Department of Justice announced the following settlement agreements under the False Claims Act (FCA): The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced that a laboratory, pain clinic and two former executives agreed to pay $41 million dollars to resolve allegations under the…
On April 19, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), partnered with the Trump Administration, announced new regulatory requirements will be issued for nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. CMS also issued a memorandum discussing what the new regulations will include. The regulations are being implemented to address…
Today, April 22, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that $10 billion will be distributed to as grants hospitals in areas that have been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes hospitals serving areas that have high percentages of confirmed COVID-19 cases (e.g., New York).…
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has begun issuing $30 billion in awards from the Public Health and Social Service Emergency Fund (PHSSEF) to healthcare providers nationwide to help relieve the financial burden imposed upon the healthcare industry by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each provider that receives an award…
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it is increasing payments under Medicare for high-throughput COVID-19 clinical diagnostic laboratory tests. Previously, Medicare Administrative Contractors were paying out $51 for these tests. Under the new payment policy, effective April 14, 2020, Medicare will pay $100 (nearly double…
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that it would directly deposit $30 billion in funds into the accounts of providers/suppliers that billed Medicare fee-for-service claims last year. This initial $30 billion is part of a $100 billion appropriation under the CARES Act that HHS will…
On April 2, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued critical guidance to nursing homes and state and local governments to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities. While CMS and the CDC have…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a temporary rule under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to combat the effects of COVID-19 on the workplace (the “FFCRA Temporary Rule”). The FFCRA Temporary Rule is effective from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 and extends employee leave…