December 7, 2011
Health Law Updates: The Supreme Court and the ACA, Impact of the Failure of the Deficit Supercommittee, and Proposed Changes to Hospital CoPs
United States Supreme Court to Hear Challenges to the Affordable Care Act
The first lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the "individual mandate" under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Act) was filed within minutes of President Obama signing the ACA. The individual mandate requires Americans (with certain limited exceptions) to purchase approved health insurance or pay a monetary penalty beginning in 2014. After months of litigation and several decisions from lower courts, including four United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, the issue has finally arrived before the United States Supreme Court. On November 14, 2011, the Supreme Court
accepted certiorari on the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in the case of State of Florida, et al. v. Department of Health & Human Services, et al. This is the litigation filed by Attorneys General from 26 states, two private citizens, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Read More
What Does the Deficit Supercommittee's Failure to Reach a Deficit-Reduction Agreement Mean for the Healthcare Industry?
On Monday, November 21, 2011, the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Deficit Supercommittee) announced that it had failed to reach an agreement on a deficit reducing proposal. This failure means that automatic budget cuts worth $1.2 trillion over fiscal years (FY) 2012-2021 will begin January 2013, including an automatic two percent cut each year to Medicare payments.
Read More
CMS Proposes Changes to Conditions of Participation for Hospitals to Ease Procedural Burdens
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has proposed changes to the requirements hospitals and critical access hospitals must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Citing an Executive Order released in January of this year, CMS states that it is seeking to change certain hospital conditions of participation (CoPs) in an effort to remove "obsolete, unnecessary or burdensome provisions." CMS is seeking comments on its proposed regulations and also on other options that it considered in developing its proposed changes. Comments must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on December 23, 2011, and commenters
are asked to reference file code CMS-3244-P with their submissions.
Read More
This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. The reader must consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances. |
