Health Law Scan

Nearly 20% of healthcare workers are immigrants according to the results of a June 2019 study that underscores the major contributions immigrants make to the US healthcare system. To learn more about how the US Department of State is regulating immigrant visa availability and adjusting the flow of status adjustments and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals, please see our recent alert on the August 2019 visa bulletin.

For those providers—and there are more than a few—that believe the administrative and regulatory burdens associated with participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs negatively affect their ability to furnish high-quality, cost-effective healthcare, now is the time to make your voice heard! On June 11, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the US Department of Treasury released a request for information (RFI) on Reducing Administrative Burden to Put Patients Over Paperwork.

Don't miss our next Fast Break on July 31 featuring Katie McDermott and Matt Hogan as they discuss the trickiest issues in handling and settling FCA investigations.

The FCC recently issued draft rules for a pilot funding program to enhance broadband service for connected care telehealth purposes, reflecting the agency’s recognition of the increasingly critical role that telehealth plays in the healthcare industry.

Members of the Morgan Lewis healthcare team joined more than 1,200 professionals in attendance at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Health Lawyers Association recently held in Boston.

June is when spring makes way for summer’s guilty pleasures, and for Health Law Scan these included reading highly anticipated decisions by the US Supreme Court and state legislation signed into law.

US President Donald Trump issued the Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First on June 24, another in a long line of recent executive and legislative branch efforts to address the issue of healthcare pricing and the apparent “black box” nature of those prices to the average consumer.

Paired with the recent decision in Azar v. Allina, the healthcare industry in particular can hope for a greater voice in the regulatory process in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s directives. With Allina’s requirement that all statements of policy or guidance with substantive legal effect must proceed through notice and comment rulemaking, and Kisor’s instructions for greater judicial diligence with respect to interpreting agency rules, the healthcare industry may have increased confidence that the courts can provide a meaningful role in protecting regulated parties from unchecked agency authority. This is of great value in an era of rapidly changing and thoroughly regulated healthcare delivery systems.

In an opinion with significant implications for the healthcare industry, the US Supreme Court has held that information that is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner—and that is provided to the government under an assurance of privacy—is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

On a fourth go-around, the Trump administration has issued another set of proposed tariffs on an additional $300 billion of goods related to China, this time adding a range of commercial goods across industries.