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…
In a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing on April 7, 2020, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma (the “Administrator”) announced that CMS will distribute $30 billion in grants from the Public Health and Social Service Emergency Fund (PHSSEF) to providers to help alleviate the burden that…
On March 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will issue blanket waivers from sanctions imposed under section 1877 of the Social Security Act (SSA), often referred to as the Physician Self-Referral (Stark) Law, to healthcare providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. By way…
The Michigan Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) is a public policy that allows Michiganders access to information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them. To balance this priority with the restrictions created by the COVID-19 crisis, it is necessary to provide temporary extensions…
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued an Interim Final Rule (the “Initial Rule”) to implement sections 1102 an 1106 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) on April 2, 2020. Subsequently, the SBA issued an additional Interim Final Rule (the “Subsequent Rule”) to supplement the…