On March 30, 2021, the New York Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the prosecutorial power of the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs (“Justice Center”).  The Court, in People v. Viviani, et. al.[1], held that the statute providing for the organization of the Justice Center, Executive Law § 552,

The pandemic has prompted the reallocation of hospital beds from psychiatric care to treatment of COVID patients. This has occurred as mental illness has been on the rise. To cope with the insufficient number of psychiatric beds, it is important for hospitals to curtail readmissions. An often-underutilized tool to do so is the assisted outpatient

Spending time with family is always important, especially during the holiday season. The holidays are different this year, due to the pandemic, and spending time with loved ones in skilled nursing facilities requires additional planning.

In response to recent spikes in Covid-19 cases in skilled nursing facilities, the New York Department of Health in November

The Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) has finalized new safe harbors and modifications of existing safe harbors under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) to reflect a policy priority favoring a value-based health care system that “pays for health and outcomes” and that will “remove potential barriers to more effective

The COVID-19 pandemic has had another, less-discussed effect on hospitals. Hearings that traditionally take place in hospitals – such as guardianships, retention, medication over objection, or assisted outpatient hearings – have shifted to a virtual platform.

Below are some considerations for hospital personnel participating in virtual hearings.

(1) Familiarize yourself with the technology

Due to

The New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) instituted changes to its annual compliance certification process, effective immediately. These changes apply to those Medicaid, Managed Medicaid, and Service Bureau providers subject to the mandatory compliance program requirements in Section 363-d of the New York State Social Services Law (SSL) and the Deficit

In our prior bulletin, we discussed the likely lack of civil immunity from Justice Center enforcement actions conferred in other contexts by Executive Order 202.10. However, other Executive Orders provided some relief in the form of certain suspended or waived requirements applicable to facilities licensed by the Office of People with Development Disabilities (OPWDD).

By

False Claims Act, Medical Necessity and Government Regulation of Medicine

In recent years, much attention has been paid to what makes a claim “false” under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) when the underlying misconduct is based on the alleged lack of medical necessity for the services provided.  Bearing on this issue are Court of Appeals

In 1969, noted economist Milton Friedman coined the term “helicopter money” to describe the monetary policy of injecting liquidity into the market, much like dropping money to people from helicopters, as an alternative to quantitative easing. The CARES Act, popularly referred to as the Provider Relief Fund is a “helicopter” that dropped a lot of

Marc Ullman published an article in Nutrition Industry Executive entitled, “The ABH Nature’s Products Recall – Lessons for Own Label Distributors.”

Click here to read the article.