radar Health Law Scan

Legal Insights and Perspectives for the Healthcare Industry
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) issued an internal memorandum on April 10 to its regional directors describing a process that could be used to review medical licensees’ requests for temporary exemptions from certain NRC regulations due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Enclosed with the memorandum is a template letter that regions can use to streamline granting temporary exemptions.
Morgan Lewis is staying informed on all of the developments surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Our healthcare team continues to follow developments, producing a number of publications and webinars to help keep our healthcare industry readers informed.
Our telecommunications, media, and technology group prepared a LawFlash discussing two programs that the Federal Communications Commission established on March 31 to help eligible healthcare providers purchase and deploy telehealth technology. The programs provide immediate relief for telehealth and healthcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and aim to improve telehealth outcomes over the longer term.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a far-reaching interim final rule (IFR) to address the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on March 30. The IFR represents a comprehensive set of policy changes designed to shift the provision of Medicare services from face-to-face care to remote care through telehealth, in order to mitigate the risks of exposure to COVID-19 for patients and healthcare providers. Above all else, the IFR prioritizes physically distancing patients from their care teams and other patients.
The Morgan Lewis healthcare team continues to monitor the developments surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are acutely aware of what the healthcare service provider community is currently facing and are here to help.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an Open Payments COVID-19 Announcement on March 25 saying that it planned in some cases to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to late or incomplete data reporting.
In managing the quickly evolving healthcare landscape during this current crisis, healthcare companies should be wary of fraudsters who attempt to divert critical resources.
As we noted in our previous Health Law Scan blog CMS Issues Program Instructions for Medicare Telehealth Waiver, CMS issued program instructions on March 17 to implement the Medicare telehealth waiver in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Healthcare industry lawyers Eric Knickrehm and Jake Harper recently authored a LawFlash analyzing medical licensure waivers issued in connection with the coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency that permit healthcare professionals to receive federal healthcare program reimbursement for telehealth services in states where they do not hold a license.
In the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the US president’s National Emergency Declaration, issued on March 13, set in motion several actions required of other agencies to provide the regulatory relief needed to ensure that healthcare providers have flexibility in responding quickly to the growing need in the United States.