January 21, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: State CON Law Changes, Pop-Up COVID-19 Testing Sites & More

States Retooling Certificate of Need Laws: Thirty-five states currently have certificate of need, or CON, laws, requiring certain healthcare facilities to obtain approval from the state before expanding their service capacity. But with critics of such laws contending...
January 14, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: Hospitals Allowing COVID-19-Positive Staff to Stay on Job, Health-Heavy 2022 Ballot in CA & More

Hospitals Allowing Staff Infected with COVID-19 to Keep Working: Health authorities in California announced last week that nurses and other hospital staff who test positive for COVID-19 but are asymptomatic can stay on the job. The state’s Department of...
December 17, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: CA Rethinking Nursing Home Funding, High Court Okays NY Healthcare Worker Vaccine Mandate & More

Nursing Home COVID Death Toll Prompting Funding Change in CA: With nearly 9,400 California nursing home residents having died of COVID-19 - roughly 13 percent of the total number of Californians claimed by the virus - the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom ...
December 10, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Pay Parity for Physician Phone Calls, Physician Assistant Name Change & More

Debate over Pay Parity for Physician ‘Virtual Check-in’ Phone Calls: A four-digit medical billing code added during the pandemic has allowed doctors to be reimbursed for 11- to 20-minute telephone calls with patients, $27 for those covered by Medicaid...
December 02, 2021

Healthcare 2022: Pandemic Politics

Health care has been one of the industries most impacted by the pandemic over the last 22 months, and the new year is not likely to see a slowing of the challenges and opportunities it faces. In this issue, we lay out a number of the questions and issues we think...
November 19, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Congressional Pushback against Surprise Billing Rule, Hospital Expansion Oversight Bill in MA & More

Biden Administration Rule Spurs Revolt in Congress over Surprise Billing: Last December Congress passed the No Surprises Act, aimed at protecting patients from being billed directly for out-of-network medical care not covered by their insurance. After lengthy...
November 12, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Reversal of J&J Opioid Ruling, Veto of Permanent Telehealth ‘Pay Parity’ in NJ & More

OK High Court Reverses J&J Opioid Ruling: In a 5-1 ruling, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s $465 million judgement against Johnson & Johnson, maintaining that the drugmaker violated the state's public nuisance law in its...
October 29, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: TN Lawmakers Looking to Shield Doctors from Discipline for COVID-19 Misinformation & More

TN Lawmakers Move to Block State Medical Boards from Disciplining Doctors for Spreading COVID-19 Misinformation: Ahead of a special session on coronavirus legislation last week, Tennessee lawmakers prefiled a pair of bills ( HB 9020 c and HB 9028 c ) that would...
October 22, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: OH Nursing Home Room Camera Bill, COVID Testing Lab Lawsuits & More

Nursing Home In-Room Camera Bill Advancing in OH: A bipartisan bill ( SB 58 ) passed unanimously by the Ohio Senate in May and now up for its third committee hearing in the state’s House would allow nursing home residents or their families to install cameras...
October 08, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Differing Healthcare Worker Vaccination Mandate Impacts in NY and RI, HI Nursing Shortage & More

Divergent Worker Vaccination Mandate Results in NY, RI: Healthcare workers in New York have been getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at over twice the rate of adult residents of the state as a whole, since former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced a vaccine mandate...
October 01, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: NY Hospitals Suspending Unvaccinated Workers, Panic Buttons for MO Hospital Staff & More

NY Hospitals Push Unvaccinated Workers toward Vaccination with Suspensions: Hospitals in upstate New York have started placing employees on unpaid leave for failing to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for healthcare workers. The tactic...
September 20, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Pandemic Downside of Hospital Cost-Saving Success, Biden Vaccine Mandate Concern & More

Cost Cutting has Made Hospitals More Vulnerable to Pandemic: Hawaii has one of the lowest hospital bed per capita rates in the nation, at 1.9 beds for every 1,000 people. The state is now out of intensive care beds, with half of the 223 total statewide occupied...
May 07, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Pandemic Insurance Expenses, Healthcare Cost Transparency, Pfizer Vaccine and More

States Shifting Burden of Doctors’, Dentists’ Pandemic Expenses onto Insurers: A bill in committee in the California Senate ( SB 242 ) would require state-regulated private health insurance plans to reimburse doctors and dentists for “medically...
May 14, 2021

Healthcare Roundup: Skyrocketing Costs of COVID-19 Test Kits, Nursing Home Workers Strike and More

Coronavirus Tests Cash Cows for Some Providers: Some hospitals have been charging as much as $650 for a basic molecular COVID-19 test that costs them less than $50 to do, according to analysis of Medicare claims by Hospital Pricing Specialists. Some free-standing...
June 04, 2021

Healthcare Round Up: Stand-Alone ER's, Mandatory Healthcare Worker Bonuses, Canadian Drug Imports & More

CO Seeking to Shut Down Stand-Alone ERs: A decade ago free-standing emergency rooms began cropping up around the country with the promise of providing emergency care in areas where there were no hospitals or where hospital ERs were overcrowded. But instead, the...