Hospital

Hospitals Will Need Psychiatrists and Mental Health Professionals to Satisfy EMTALA

Posted by Gregory M. Fliszar on November 07, 2017
Hospital, Mental Health, Uncategorized / No Comments

Hospitals that have emergency departments should call upon their “available resources” to screen and stabilize patients with mental health emergencies as required by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (“EMTALA”) according to recent statements by an analyst for CMS and an attorney with the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the Department of Health and Human Services.

While speaking at the American College of Emergency Physicians annual meeting in Chicago, the CMS representative noted that EMTALA requires hospitals with emergency departments to provide a medical screening within the capabilities of the hospital by a person who is qualified to do the examination, which, if the hospital offers psychiatric services, would include a psychiatrist.  While the initial screening must be done with medical personnel such as a psychiatrist, the CMS official stated that other mental health professionals may be qualified to assist in those examinations.

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Telemedicine Benchmark Study Provides Great Insight

Posted by Rene Quashie on May 09, 2017
ACA, Healthcare, Hospital, Telemedicine / No Comments

A recent telemedicine industry benchmark survey published by REACH Health provides great insight into where the industry has been and where it is headed. The survey was conducted among U.S. healthcare executives, physicians, nurses and other professionals. Organizations represented in the survey were diverse and included representatives from organizations with a $1 billion or more in revenue (about a third of respondents), and almost half with revenues under $50 million.

 

In reviewing the survey report, there were some significant takeaways:

  • Telemedicine is evolving from a specialty offering to a mainstream service.
  • More than half of respondents consider telemedicine to be a top or high priority.
  • Patient-oriented objectives—including improving patient outcomes, improving patient convenience, and increasing patient engagement and satisfaction—are the three top objectives for telemedicine programs.
  • There is an emphasis on better leveraging specialists with a large majority of respondents ranking this a top or high priority.
  • Nearly half of hospital and integrated delivery network respondents who began their telemedicine programs/initiatives with a departmental approach are transitioning to an enterprise approach.
  • The maturity of telemedicine programs varies widely among service lines and settings of care. Generally, settings requiring highly specialized treatment continue to be more mature than those requiring generalized treatment.
  • Telemedicine technology, reporting and analytics, as well as in-house physicians are viewed as highly important to the success of a program, whereas outsourced physician coverage services less so.

Continue reading…

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Cyber-Security Alert: D.C. Area Hospital Chain MedStar Targeted By Hackers

Posted by Dana Petrillo on March 30, 2016
Healthcare, Hospital / No Comments

MedStar, a Washington, D.C.-area hospital chain, became the latest healthcare industry victim of a cyber-attack when hackers breached its systems with a crippling virus. MedStar operates 10 hospitals in the D.C./Baltimore region, employs 30,000 staff, has 6,000 affiliated physicians, and serviced more than 4.5 million patient visits in 2015.

After being paralyzed by the virus, MedStar’s entire IT system for its 10 hospitals was forced to shut down and revert to paper records. The chain’s approximately 35,000 employees do not have access to emails and cannot look up digital patient records in the attack’s wake. The FBI is assisting the chain by investigating the incident. It’s unclear at the moment whether or not the hackers are demanding ransom from MedStar in exchange for removing the virus.

Monday’s cyber-attack at MedStar comes weeks after Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles paid hackers 40 bitcoins, or about $17,000, to regain control of its computer system, which hackers had seized with ransomware using an infected email attachment.

Hackers increasingly target healthcare entities as security protections in healthcare often lag behind those in banking and financial sectors. Healthcare information contains a treasure trove of patients’ personal information, and a complete healthcare record is worth at least ten times more on the black market than credit card information. Also, hospitals are considered critical infrastructure that cannot reasonably be closed or incapacitated for any great length of time, and so may be more inclined to bowing to hackers’ demands for ransom.

This latest attack just goes to show the importance of cybersecurity at hospitals and other healthcare entities. In addition to the recent Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center attack, data breaches and cyber-attacks have also recently occurred at Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, UCLA Health System, Premera Blue Cross, and Anthem Inc.

For more information, please contact Dana Petrillo, or another member of Cozen O’Connor’s Health Law team.

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Third Circuit Invalidates HHS’ Medicare Wage Index Reclassification Rule

Posted by Robert A. Chu on August 04, 2015
HHS, Hospital, Medicare / No Comments

shutterstock_182426978On July 23, 2015, the Third Circuit invalidated, as being contrary to the Medicare statute, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Medicare wage index “reclassification rule,” 42 C.F.R. § 412.230(a)(5)(iii). That rule was designed to prevent (and did prevent) urban hospitals that had strategically reclassified as being rural from being reclassified again (based on their newly acquired rural status) to a particular urban area, to benefit from a higher Medicare standardized amount and wage index.

In Geisinger Community Medical Center v. Secretary United States Department of Health and Human Services, the hospital first reclassified, successfully, as a Section 401 hospital (i.e., an urban hospital that elects to be treated as rural). It then sought to reclassify, based on its newly acquired rural status, to the Allentown urban wage index area. The hospital estimated that such a reclassification would increase its Medicare reimbursements by approximately $2.6 million per year. The Allentown urban area is 27 miles from the hospital. To be reclassified to that area, the hospital had to rely on the relaxed 35 mile maximum distance applicable to rural hospitals; it would not qualify under the maximum 15 mile distance applicable to urban hospitals. The reclassification rule, however, prohibited Section 401 hospitals from reclassifying based on their acquired rural status.

The Third Circuit panel majority, under a Chevron Step One analysis, agreed with the hospital that HHS’ reclassification rule is unlawful. It specifically held that the statutory text of Section 401 unambiguously requires HHS, through broad and mandatory language, to treat Section 401 hospitals like hospitals that are actually located in rural areas. The reclassification rule, therefore, unlawfully prevented the Section 401 hospital from being considered as a rural hospital in its application to reclassify to a different wage index area.

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Largest Criminal Health Care Fraud Takedown – 243 Charged and $712 Million in False Billings

Posted by Ryan Blaney on June 18, 2015
DOJ, FBI, Fraud and Abuse, HHS, Hospital, Medicare / No Comments

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On June 18, 2015, HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell and DOJ Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced nationwide arrests in Medicare fraud schemes amounting to approximately $712 million in false billings.  Attorney General Lynch described the strike as “the largest criminal health care fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice, and it adds to an already remarkable record of enforcement.”

According to the Department of Justice Press Release the takedown was led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force and resulted in 243 individuals, including 46 doctors, nurses and licensed medical professionals, being charged with Medicare fraud.  This Strike Force targeted false billings for the following services:

  • Home Health
  • Psychotherapy
  • Physical and Occupational Therapy
  • DME
  • Pharmacy Fraud

The nationwide sweep included Florida, Texas, California, Louisiana, New York and Michigan.  Miami was a particular focus with 73 defendants charged and $263 million of false billings for home health, mental health and pharmacy services.

This nationwide sweep involved significant coordination between multiple government enforcement agencies and illustrates the government’s joint efforts to target health care fraud.  Included in the press conference were FBI Director James B. Comey, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Deputy Administrator and Director of CMS Center for Program Integrity Dr. Shantanu Agrawal.

Assistant Attorney General Caldwell spoke and emphasized the Criminal Division’s increased focus on Medicare fraud stating,  “Every day, the Criminal Division is more strategic in our approach to prosecuting Medicare Fraud.  We obtain and analyze billing data in real-time.  We target hot spots – areas of the country and the types of health care services where the billing data shows the potential for a high volume of fraud – and we are speeding up our investigations.  By doing this, we are increasingly able to stop schemes at the developmental stage, and to prevent them from spreading to other parts of the country.”

For further information contact Ryan P. Blaney or any member of Cozen O’Connor’s health care team.

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Not Much New … But a Good Reminder for Medical Director Relationships

Posted by Ryan Blaney on June 15, 2015
CMS, Hospital, OIG, Regulations / No Comments

After a sigshutterstock_272707754nificant number of settlement agreements between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), OIG decided to release a Fraud Alert reminding physicians, practices and hospitals about the significant compliance risks with medical director agreements. The June 9, 2015 Fraud Alert highlights four issues of concern in medical director agreements and relationships:

 

  1. Agreements providing for medical director compensation based upon a calculation taking into account the volume of a medical director’s referrals to the entity he or she is serving as medical director.
  2. Agreements providing for medical director compensation above fair market value for the services to be rendered by the medical director.
  3. Medical directors failing to actually render the services set forth in medical director agreements, yet still being compensated for such services.
  4. Agreements providing that affiliated health care entities pay for a medical director’s front office staff, thereby relieving the medical director of a financial burden such medical director would otherwise have incurred.

This Fraud Alert offers nothing new in terms of Anti-Kickback regulation and enforcement, reiterating to providers that the Anti-kickback statute generally prohibits a provider from being paid any form of remuneration for referring a patient for federal healthcare business.  It appears to be a not-so-friendly reminder that “remuneration” can come in many shapes and sizes and physicians must continue to be vigilant in their negotiating and entering into medical director agreements, as well as their adherence to same. A physician considering entering into any business venture in the health care sector should proceed with caution, and always confer with a health care attorney before signing on the dotted line.  The complete June 9, 2015 Fraud Alert can be found here: http://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/alerts/guidance/Fraud_Alert_Physician_Compensation_06092015.pdf.

For further information contact a member of Cozen O’Connor’s health care team.

Authored by Ryan Blaney (Washington, DC) and Marc Goldsand (Miami, FL).

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“It’s Not Easy to Unscramble the Eggs” … Despite the FTC’s Win at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Phoebe Putney Hospital Merger Remains Intact

Posted by Ryan Blaney on April 03, 2015
Antitrust, CON Laws, Federal Trade Commission, Hospital, Merger / No Comments

EggsNearly four years after the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) first challenged the combination of the only two hospitals in Albany, Georgia, the FTC, Phoebe Putney Health Systems, Inc. (“Phoebe Putney”), Hospital Authority of Albany – Dougherty County (“Hospital Authority”) and HCA, Inc. (“HCA”) agreed to enter into a Consent Agreement. The FTC’s vote finalizing the Consent Agreement was 3-0-2, with Commissioners Joshua D. Wright and Terrell McSweeny not participating.  The Phoebe Putney litigation illustrates the challenges that the FTC and entities attempting to consummate a deal face in the merger process.  In Phoebe Putney, the FTC lost in two federal lower courts, won at the U.S. Supreme Court but ultimately was unable to unscramble a hospital merger that was found to be (1) anti-competitive and (2) a monopoly for inpatient general acute-care.

In addition to the Consent Agreement, a Statement was issued by Chairwoman Ramirez on March 31, 2015 summarizing the extensive procedural history of the litigation, the reasons the FTC challenged the merger, why the FTC did not require a divestiture and an explanation of the obligations that Phoebe Putney must meet under the Consent Agreement.  The March 31st Statement may provide insights into the FTC’s strategies when challenging future hospital mergers.  As explained below in the practice pointers, we anticipate the FTC citing Phoebe Putney in support of their preliminary injunctions and also citing to state certificate of need [CON] laws as evidence of barriers to entry for hospital competitors.

By way of background, since 1890 federal laws have supported national policies in favor of competition.  In Parker v. Brown, a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the state action doctrine provided that state governments have immunity from federal antitrust laws when they authorize economic activity that normally would be anticompetitive and illegal.  In 1941, Albany, Georgia and surrounding Dougherty County set up the Hospital Authority.  The Hospital Authority acquired an existing hospital, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.  Two miles away Palmyra Medical Center was operated separately by HCA, Inc., one of the largest health care providers in the United States.  Palmyra and Phoebe Putney merged with the Hospital Authority as the buyer of Palmyra with the funds coming from Phoebe Putney.  Palmyra hospital was leased to Putney for $1 a year.  The Hospital Authority approved the merger in December 2010 but was not involved in the merger talks or management of the hospital.

The FTC and the State of Georgia filed a preliminary injunction in federal court to block the transaction but the federal district judge held that the state action doctrine applied and refused to stop the merger.  The FTC appealed to the 11th Circuit, which also found that the merger was insulated from antitrust inquiry under state action immunity concluding that harm to competition was the “foreseeable result” of the legislature’s establishment of the Hospital Authority.

The 11th Circuit decision dissolved the injunction pending appeal and on December 15, 2011 the merger was finalized.  The FTC appealed the 11th Circuit’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The two issues were: (1) whether the legislature had expressed its intentions clearly enough in allowing hospital proxies to operate in anti-competitive ways, and (2) whether the local hospital arrangement did not have immunity because the hospital authority had not played a large enough role in the merger.

The Supreme Court unanimously answered the first question, ruling that the state legislature had “not clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed a policy to allow hospital authorities to make acquisitions that substantially lessen competition.”  Following the Supreme Court decision, the FTC proceeded with the administrative litigation and proposed a 2013 consent agreement.  However, the 2013 consent agreement was withdrawn after a newly formed health care entity, North Albany Medical Center LLC, expressed interest in Palmyra hospital and sought clarification on Georgia’s CON laws.

In October 2014, the Georgia Department of Community Health (“DCH”) Hearing Officer issued a written finding that the CON laws would preclude Phoebe North from purchasing Palmyra since the Albany region was deemed “over-bedded.”  Given the DCH’s decision, the FTC determined that divestiture of Palmyra – Phoebe Putney was impossible.

The March 31st Settlement is very similar to the one proposed in 2013.  The Settlement requires:

  • Phoebe Putney and the Hospital Authority to notify the FTC in advance of acquiring any part of a hospital or a controlling interest in other health care providers in Albany for the next 10 years.
  • Phoebe Putney and the Hospital Authority cannot object to regulatory applications made by potential new hospital providers in the same region for 5 years.
  • Phoebe Putney and the Hospital Authority stipulate that the transaction was anti-competitive.

Practice Points:

  • The FTC’s March 31st Statement by Chairwoman Ramirez emphasizes the importance of the FTC and private plaintiffs in obtaining preliminary injunctive relief prior to a transaction closing. The health care industry should anticipate the FTC citing the Phoebe Putney case as supporting authority for why there will be irremediable harm if a hospital transaction closes before all appeals are exhausted.
  • We also anticipate that the FTC will use the Phoebe Putney case in support of arguments that state CON laws are additional barriers for entry of potential competitors and should be significant factor when analyzing proposed mergers.

For further information contact the author Ryan P. Blaney (Washington, DC) or other members of Cozen O’Connor’s healthcare antitrust team, R. Christopher Raphaely (Philadelphia, PA), Melissa H. Maxman (Washington, DC) and Jonathan Grossman (Washington, DC).

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Owners of Tax Exempt Properties in Philadelphia Required to Certify Tax Exemption Status

Posted by Robert A. Chu on February 25, 2015
Exempt, Hospital, Non-profit / No Comments

hospital picNon-profit hospitals, and other owners of tax exempt properties in Philadelphia, must certify as to their eligibility for continued property tax exemption with Philadelphia’s Office of Property Assessment (OPA) by March 31, 2015.  Click here to view a Tax Alert on this issue.  With its deep experience in state and local tax issues, Cozen O’Connor is ready to help affected organizations navigate the complexities of the certification process.

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