On November 2, 2015 the President signed The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, requiring that civil monetary penalties must be raised to account for inflation, followed by an annual review for further increases. Providers accused of False Claims Act (FCA) violations are likely to see an increase as high as 40% over the current penalty […]
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Federal prosecutors are investigating widespread fraud, in at least four states, by compounding pharmacies in claims submitted to TRICARE–the health-insurance program that insures over 9 million U.S. military members (active, guard/reserve and retired) and their families. Some of the allegations include: false billings, physicians writing prescriptions despite not […]
It was just released that Congress is contemplating whether Medicare will be able to restrict at-risk drug abuse beneficiaries to a limited number of pharmacies and providers when they seek narcotics. Currently, Medicaid and the Veterans Affairs (VA) are able to impose these restrictions, but Medicare is not. If successful, this action will help prevent […]
The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”) has released its Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2016. This plan summarizes new and continuing areas of review and activities that HHS-OIG plans to pursue as well as describing its primary objectives. The newest additions to the work plan are: • […]
In July, we blogged about the major Stark Law provisions in the 2016 Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (the “Proposed Rule“). On October 29, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS“) released the final 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (the “Final Rule“) (available here), with few changes between the proposed rule and final […]
On October 21, 2015, President Obama announced new initiatives to fight the nation’s opioid abuse epidemic. The President discussed several plans for doing so, such as: expanding access to drug treatment, increasing the number of physicians who can prescribe a drug used to treat opiate addiction, doubling the number of providers that can prescribe a […]
On April 20, 2015, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, in partnership with the American Health Lawyers Association and the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors, published Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight, which describes the OIG’s expectations of the compliance oversight role healthcare governing boards (e.g., […]
Recently, pharmacies (specifically compounding pharmacies) across the country have begun receiving letters from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) notifying them that the pharmacy is being investigated for fraud under the False Claims Act for knowingly billing for drugs that were not medically necessary. Industry insiders have reported that, just yesterday (on 5/21/2015), at least […]
On January 22, 2015, in the case of Barrows v. Burwell, No. 3:11-cv-1703, 2015 WL 264727 (2nd Cir., January 22, 2015), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Medicare beneficiaries be granted the opportunity to demonstrate a Constitutionally-protected property interest to challenge their patient status designations as hospital outpatients rather […]
With the fight against prescription drug abuse reaching an all-time high, health insurance plans are now taking a proactive role in attempting to reduce the quantity of some of the most abused drugs in the marketplace. As of September 2, 2014, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) commercial plans (non-Medicare) will implement new quantity […]
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