The US Department of State has released its May 2019 Visa Bulletin with important information for US healthcare entities employing non-US nationals. The bulletin sets out per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of status adjustments and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals.

The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) policy statement emphasizes the role of the Congressional Review Act in the rulemaking process and incorporates rulemaking actions that were not consistently subject to prepublication review under standing executive orders. Questions remain regarding the prospects for regulatory gridlock and burdensome delays.

While Maryland became the first state in the nation to pass legislation creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, it may not be the last. Several other states are exploring similar legislation but legal challenges may follow.

We had a great time last Thursday celebrating the American Health Lawyers Association's AHLA Day 2019. Each April, AHLA hosts receptions in multiple cities to bring together the health lawyer community.

We're excited to introduce Tele-Tuesdays, a new feature on Health Law Scan where we'll bring you the latest updates in the world of telehealth legal issues. From new regulations and legislation to enforcement actions and changes in the telehealth landscape, we'll cover it all.

Daniel Levinson, the HHS Inspector General (IG), tendered his resignation to President Donald Trump on April 2, effective May 31. Mr. Levinson was the longest serving HHS-IG and under his leadership, the watchdog managed a wide array of oversight, including checks on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

In a March 19 letter to CMS and HHS-OIG, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) continued their oversight efforts regarding physician-owned distributorship (POD) relationships by raising questions about US Sunshine compliance by PODs. PODs involve the ownership of medical device distributorships by surgeons who use or recommend those products in their surgical procedures. The senators are critical of CMS and OIG efforts to expose and deter POD arrangements, citing long-held concerns that POD arrangements are, as the OIG has suggested in a prior Fraud Bulletin, "inherently suspect” and abusive arrangements that promote medically unnecessary services. The March letter raises an often debated question regarding POD compliance with Physician Sunshine Rules and whether CMS or the OIG have taken sufficient steps to assure transparency compliance with these particular arrangements.

The cool winds of March blew red-hot for the Health Law Scan beginning with a new Senate inquiry into tax-exempt hospitals and ending with an announcement by the US Department of Justice that the Affordable Care Act should be invalidated. In between, we filled out this month’s March Madness bracket with a rundown of important provisions from the proposed interoperability rule, how divided government impacts the healthcare industry, a recap from a very interesting Fast Break on radioactive materials in hospitals, insights for FCA practitioners from the Justice Department, and much more.

“Medicare for All” has appeared in the nation’s political dialogue as we head into the next election cycle, with a number of plans being proposed by Democratic lawmakers.

In a tersely worded letter to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that it “has determined that the district court’s judgment in Texas v. U.S. should be affirmed” and “is not urging that any portion of the district court’s judgment be reversed.”