On January 15, 2013, Richard Behnan, DPM., a 56 year old podiatrist from Fenton, MI was sentenced by a federal judge to 55 months in prison and ordered to pay over $1.4 million in restitution to Medicare and nearly $200,000 to BCBSM for his participation in a $1.6 million fraudulent medical billing scheme. Dr.Behnan previously […]
Stay tuned for many further developments – The Health Law Partners will be providing numerous valuable educational resources for its clients. The announcement and links are below. January 17, 2013 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a new rule to strengthen the privacy and security protections for health information established […]
CMS released Transmittal No. 2634 to update the Medicare Claims Processing Manual in connection with the changes to payment for medical and surgical services furnished by CRNAs. In particular: 140.4.3 – Payment for Medical or Surgical Services Furnished by CRNAs (Rev.2634, Issued: 01-11-13, Effective: 01-01-13, Implementation: 02-12-13) B3-16003.H Payment shall be made for reasonable and […]
According to the US Department of Justice, Florida-based American Sleep Medicine LLC has agreed to pay the government approximately $15,300,000 to resolve allegations that it billed Medicare and other government payors for diagnostic sleep services that were not eligible for payment. The payment settles a qui tam or False Claims Act lawsuit brought against the […]
A press release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published on January 2, 2013 announced that the Department had reached its first settlement with a covered entity for a breach of the Health and Information Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule affecting fewer than 500 individuals. The settlement agreement with […]
As part of the deal to avert the fiscal cliff that was passed on New Year’s Day, Congress extended the 2012 Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”) through December 31, 2013, effectively freezing implementation of the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”) formula that would have decreased Medicare physician payments by 26.5%. To pay for the cost of the […]
Late in the evening New Year’s Day, the House of Representatives passed a Senate Bill that avoids the fiscal cliff by making middle-class tax rates permanent and postponing automatic spending cuts for two months. As part of the deal, Congress included a Medicare “Doc Fix” necessary to avert a 26.5% cut to Medicare physician payments […]
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed into law legislation that provides significant amendments to the state’s law governing accountable care organizations (“ACOs”). The new law became effective on October 3, 2012. New York’s ACO law, enacted in March 2011 as a demonstration program, provided that an entity that wants to operate as an […]
On December 19, 2012, The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published an advisory opinion (“OIG AO 12-20“) wherein the agency concluded it will not impose sanctions under the Anti-kickback Statute (“AKS”) on a Hospital (“Hospital”) for its proposal to provide a free electronic interface (“the Interface”) to community physicians and physician practices to allow electronic […]
It seems like every ten years or so the pendulum swings towards or away from physicians seeking employment from hospitals as opposed to heading off on their own or joining existing private physician practices. Over the last few years, the pendulum has swung towards hospital employment. A number of factors have arguably led to this […]
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